Blood and Nerve
by hasitsclaws
Summary: Logically he knew that all of this happiness couldn't last forever. No matter how much they tried to ignore it, there was a war on the horizon. Their only hope was finding the Key to Tartarus first, because if they didn't that meant the Titans would go free and the world would end. Hey, no one had ever said the life of a reincarnated God would be easy. Sequel to Bone and Skin.
1. To The Slaughter

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone, I know I have been absent for a while and this sequel has been a long time coming, but between college and my job I just never really have time to write anything that isn't essays anymore. I apologize greatly for the neglect I've had towards the Bone and Skin saga and my other fics, but I finally got the beginning of this sequel going, and wanted to post it. I can't promise updates will be consistent, or that I will make it back to this fic or my others right away, but I can say I am not gone forever, and I plan to continue all of my versions of Hades and Persephone at some point. Otp is Otp and their stories must be told. Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck around, or anyone new who wants to read the rest of Violet and Logan's tale. It means ever so much, and I hope you enjoy the story!

* * *

_"A man is a God in ruins."_

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

* * *

There was a clock tolling in the distance.

One drag of smoke, two drags, three…

Michael Halefire was kind of hoping the toxins of cigarettes would kill him quicker. Gods knew it would be a relief for him to die in comparison to living, even if he would be reborn eventually. The mess of a life he'd gotten himself involved with in this cycle was something of a marvel. Then again, he supposed when you were the incarnation of the God of War himself, things were never meant to be easy for you.

"I hate it when you smoke those things."

The voice was from his right, familiar and feminine and stirring heat in his gut as he turned to look at a perfect line of gold hair and silver limbs in the darkness. "Bet you hate it when your husband smokes 'em, too."

Her mouth turned into a frown, peach lipstick perfect at the corners. "Why do you always do that?" she asked.

"Do what?" answered Michael, taking another drag from the cigarette between his fingers with dramatic show.

"You know what," she snapped, crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "Bring _him_ into it."

"He's the whole reason we're in this mess, Helen," Michael said bitterly, teeth clacking on the syllables. "And I don't just mean being adulterers."

Helen snorted, a very unlady-like kind of sound. It shocked Michael that she was capable of such an act. "Are you not ever chipper tonight," she said, Israeli accent bleeding into the words with heavy sarcasm. "I should have just left you out here to take responsibility for yourself and freeze to death."

"How could _y_o_u_ have kept me warm anyhow?" Michael asked just as the clock stopped tolling, midnight setting in around them. "Your tone is so cold I think I'm getting hypothermia twice as fast."

Ignoring his insult, she held up a blanket made of thick wool and expensive satin. "Do you want it or not?"

He thought about telling her he didn't for a moment, just to be mean. But then he saw the way her shoulders were deflating, the way her eyes sparkled like she might cry, and he gave a soft sigh and nodded. He _was_ pretty cold anyway. "Yes, please," he said, tossed the cigarette onto the sidewalk and rubbed it out with the toe of his boot.

Helen rewarded him with one of her rare, soft smiles, a kind of smile she only gave to him when they were in each other's private company. "Here," she said, threading the blanket across his shoulders.

"Thank you," he said, leaned down to kiss her softly and tried not to linger too long lest anyone come by and catch them.

While Helen's husband, Dino Bacchus, had said it was more than okay for Michael and Helen's affair to go on, Michael wasn't so sure the rest of Dino's associates would agree with the old man. More than likely they would knock Michael's teeth in for getting distracted on the job and letting his mortal emotions cloud his judgments the way he'd let them almost a month ago, responsibility gone wry with a girl named Violet Porter who he'd wanted to protect even though it was against the rules.

Apparently Michael had a soft spot for blondes with big, shiny eyes that could potentially get him killed sometime in the near future.

"They almost done in there?" he asked after a moment, watching the way Helen's posture went from one of pleasant comfort to rigid distaste.

"Not nearly," she said, looking off into the distance. "Exchanging Divinity takes longer than one would think."

"In mass amounts it does anyways," Michael input, reached out to tuck Helen under his arm as he noticed her shivering. At least he could claim he was trying to keep her warm if anyone walked by and snapped at him for touching his boss's wife in a less-than respectable manner. "A few drops ain't no big deal, though."

"_Isn't_ a big deal," Helen sighed, rolling her eyes at him teasingly. "I can not do a thing with you, can I?"

"Not really," Michael smirked. "You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the boy."

"Quite obviously, if you horrendous grammar is any indication," Helen said, glanced at the building beside them and shook her head as she broke away from Michael's side. He missed her instantly. "I should get back inside. Pan is in there alone with everyone else and I do not trust them."

"Not even with Dino there?" Michael asked as he watched her begin to walk away.

In answer, she turned back to him with a quirked brow and straight set to her hips, "_Especially_ not with Dino there."

She left Michael there on the sidewalk alone, the bit of a good mood she'd put him in going with her. When he heard the side-door to the building close he exhaled loudly, ran a hand through his golden hair and swiveled back around to watch the street again.

Since his fuck-up back with Violet Porter last month, Dino's associates had taken to using Michael as a guard-dog- but not with people, just with buildings. He kept onlookers from getting too close and informed the head honchos if anyone was there to see them, by appointment only of course.

After Halloween, Dino's associates had been extra careful about guarding their location. Attacking Violet Porter and Logan Fairgrave had been a big, flashing, neon sign that said they were ready for a war, but no one had been prepared for how much Divinity it would drain from them. Nemesis, the Goddess at the head of the whole scheme, was as weak as a woman on her death bed after using Violet and Logan's blood to perform a spell that would locate the Keys of Hades. If any of the Olympians attacked their little team in the near future, they'd more than likely lose.

That was a chance too unworthy of risking when they were so close to breaking the infamous Titans from their cages, now that they had a way to locate the last Key.

So Michael had become the night's watchman without the flashlight and crappy uniform, keeping Dino's associates' headquarters in London, England a secret while Nemesis recuperated and planned how to activate the map and find the final Key. It wasn't a comfortable job by any means, but it meant he was close to Helen and that he did not have to face Violet Porter again any time soon.

Going head-to-head with the guilt he had for being the catalyst of her almost dying was too unbearable to think about.

Because, really, the girl should have been dead. When Dino's associates had received word that neither Violet nor Logan had died after Nemesis cut them to the bone and the warehouse they were in caught fire, they had been astounded to their cores. No one had an explanation for it, least of all Michael. He'd just been glad that Violet hadn't died, and hoped that somehow, someway, he could apologize to her.

Then again, she probably wouldn't come close to forgiving him. Not when he was working with what she considered the bad guys in this equation, and especially not after he'd delivered her right to them at the threat of her loved ones so she could be used as a pawn to set the Titans free.

Sometimes Michael wondered if he really was on the side of the bad guys. He figured his alter-ego, Ares, wasn't all that moral, but neither were the rest of the Olympians. He had memories of the way they had ruled, all the people they'd killed over silly tiffs and jealousy. Nemesis had promised that when they set the Titans free it would be Utopia- that only the good would live and the bad would perish.

Michael wasn't so sure he could believe Nemesis after all the harm she'd caused him and others, but he hoped that maybe she wasn't lying about at least that much. After all, Dino believed they were making the world a better place in the end. And while Dionysus had never been a benevolent God, he hadn't been a bad one either. He was the one who had saved Ariadne after Theseus had abandoned her to rot; he'd made her a Goddess and loved her and let her live on so that she could become Helen Bacchus, a woman Michael was sure he was half-way in love with at this point. And Goddamn if that didn't complicate his viewpoint on things.

Eventually, after bitter cold and four more cigarettes, the sun began to hitch on the horizon, the door Helen had disappeared into hours ago opening once more. Michael was kind of hoping it was her again, come to give him breakfast or frown at him for smoking more or maybe even kiss him, but instead he was faced with the stout silhouette of Dino walking down the sidewalk, shoulders hunched and dark circles under the man's violet eyes.

"I believe we are finished for this evening," Dino said when he'd finally reached Michael's side, having to look up at him because his head only reached Michael's shoulders and made direct eye contact difficult. "Ariadne and Pan shall be along shortly so we may go home and sleep." Dino's speaking was as polished as his wife's, English being a second language to the man as he was originally from Italy in this lifetime.

Michael squinted at him, noticing a bandage on his palm with blood leaking through. "How much the bitch drain you of?" he asked after a moment, clacking his teeth together against the chill of the dawn.

Dino smiled drowsily, having gotten used to Michael's vulgar nicknames for his boss with no struggle. "Not too much. She is getting stronger, though. I believe we shall be able to locate the map by the end of next week, if we keep up the transfusions."

"Well I guess that's a good thing, then," Michael said, trying not to let Dino see the sudden hesitence he felt with the situation. Activating the map meant the war was pressing on, and that they were bound to cross paths with their enimies any time. "Will we be attacking the Olympians for anything else?" He tried to be sly with the question, but Dino caught his undertone right away and smiled.

"I assure you, my young friend, Violet Porter and her family are in no harm for the near future unless they were to interfere with our plans. I do not foresee that happening though, as not even Zeus himself has been able to find us yet, even with the Fates on his side," Dino said, reached up to clap Michael on the shoulder. "Now, let us not talk of business and instead go home and sleep! Here comes Helen and Pan so we may be off!"

Michael turned to look in the direction Dino was pointing, people filtering out of the building in dozens. He noticed Helen and Pan walking towards them a ways back on the sidewalk, chattering about this and that. He figured it would kind of be a relief to go back to the flat Dino had rented for their stay here in London, eat some food and catch up on sleep.

But then he caught sight of Nemesis lingering just at the lip of the door, holding on to her lover, Anteros, for support, and his nerves spiked with anxiety once more. Cratos and Pallas were at either side of the woman acting as barriers towards anyone who dare attack, but Nemesis seemed perfectly at ease and much stronger than he remembered as she found Michael's eyes through the newly formed crowd.

At first she did nothing but look at him, and then, slowly, a sharp smile formed on her lips. She raised a steady, perfeclty manicured hand to wave at him. "Hello, Michael," she called, and his skin bristled. "Lovely weather we're having, isn't it? But I do so miss the _spring_."

Only when she laughed and turned to go- her servants following behind- did Michael let his teeth unclench and his fists uncurl.

Dino looked at him uncertainly as Pan and Helen finally reached his side, arms stretching around his wife's waist and hand resting on Pan's head. "She is just messing with you, Michael," Dino said softly. "Gods never let other Gods live down mistakes, no matter how miniscule."

"It's true," Helen chimed in, though he could see the way she was on edge herself from the encounter. "Come, let us go and I will make everyone breakfast."

"Yeah, okay," Michael said as their small group began walking the opposite way of Nemesis', heading towards their rental flat.

And though he began to pretend that everything was fine after that, made small chatter and promised to take Pan to a rugby game later that day after a nap, he couldn't help but feel down in his bones how wrong Dino's statement was. Because while Gods never didn't let each other live down their mistakes, Michael knew his had not been small. Once he had been the God of War, and the bloodlust had still burned thick through his veins when he had sent Violet Porter to the slaughter.

And he couldn't help but think, that at some point, he would be obligated to do it again.


	2. Set The Date

Sometimes Violet Porter wondered whether or not the life she and her boyfriend shared together was real.

Especially on days like this where he showed up at her current place of employment looking like he'd just stepped off the cover of GQ, carrying two steaming cups of coffee in his hands, sunglasses shading his dark eyes, his perfectly-straight tie the color of pomegranates.

A man like that didn't belong here in a rusty, old auto shop located in the middle of downtown Boston. No, men like Logan Fairgrave belonged in the high life with champagne and Victoria's Secret models, not plain old girls from the south side like Violet.

Yet somehow, beyond reason, he claimed he loved her, and the coffee he handed her was just the way she liked it- two sugars and a splash of cream so big she could barely taste the bitter at the bottom of the Starbucks cup.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" she asked him after she'd accepted the coffee with a chipper '_thank you_', leaning back against the receptionist desk of the auto shop smiling softly.

Logan chuckled, slipped off his sunglasses and ran a hand through his slick, dark hair alluringly. And while he might have not been the most handsome man by modern standards, there was no denying that Logan had a natural appeal rooted in his brazen self-confidence and charm. He never failed to make Violet feel weak in the knees when he smiled at her the way he was now, like he had a seductive little secret she was just dying to know.

"I took an early lunch," he said after a moment, leaned towards her conspiratorially and whispered, "I was thinking about simply not going back and spending the rest of the day with you."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, knowing he hadn't even gone to work in the first place because it took two hours to drive from his house in Hamden, Connecticut to Boston, and that was counting the fact that Logan had a lead foot heavier than the Venus de Milo. "Well, unlike you, I cannot simply take the day off," she said, shaking her head at him fondly. "I don't own the business, after all."

At the comment, Logan put on a mock expression of offense. "Are you implying that I'm taking advantage of my title?"

"Always," Violet said, took a sip of her coffee and _mmm_'d appreciatively. "Not like you'll ever go out of business anyways; there's always dead people in the world."

"That is true," Logan said with an inclined tilt of his chin.

Working as a shipment investor for autopsy and funeral supplies had helped him make a very lucrative living. And while he worked very dutifully most days to ensure that living did not fail, and that his employees were well taken care of, it was not harmful to the company for him to play hooky every now and then so he could drive up from Connecticut to surprise Violet with coffee and plans to go anywhere in the world she asked him to take her.

He'd done just that the week before, and had somehow convinced her to take off half the day and drive with him to New York to see _Chicago _live on Broadway. It had surprised her to know that the musical was actually one of Logan's favorites, and she was happy to realize she learned something new about the man every time she was near him.

Then again, nothing was as much of a surprise about Logan Fairgrave than the fact he was actually the reincarnation of the ancient God of the Underworld himself, King Hades. Violet supposed the only reason the shock about that little fact had worn off quickly was because she had a secret of her own she hadn't even known about before meeting Logan, and that secret was that she was the reincarnation of the Goddess of Spring and Hades' long lost Queen, Persephone.

She'd thought the man a raving lunatic just five short months ago when he had kidnapped her in the middle of the summer, kept her prisoner in his house and hadn't explained why she was there. Everyone around her just said she was there to '_help_' but it never made a single lick of sense. Not until the day Logan had somehow wheedled through her hate of him and Violet had found herself kissing the man meant to be her captor, and everything had simply _clicked_, a violent flash of memories from so long ago.

(_Black eyes an acrid ache whispered anguish spirits hands running down her arms juice dripping from her mouth an eternity in the darkness._)

But realizing you were the reincarnation of a Goddess didn't mean everything was automatically super powers and ambrosia. Logan had sought her out for a reason after all- for her _help_, a concept she finally understood when he explained that there was a war brewing on the horizon, a war between beings so old and powerful, the world would not live through it.

Some of the old Gods who opposed the Olympians' rule even through the incarnations of their mortal lives wished to bring the Titans out of their cage in Tartarus and let them spin the world to ruins. Logan and Violet had been used as pawns in the plot, their blood spilled together in alter to make a map that would locate the Key of Tartarus that the others would use to set the Titans free.

Violet knew she was lucky to be alive after everything, especially because she should have died that night. Nemesis, the head of those who opposed the Olympians, had cut her so deep the blood loss should have killed her, but somehow Violet had miraculously healed herself and she and Logan had stumbled to safety through the warehouse burning down around them after the spell to make the map had set everything alight with its power.

When they'd come back to Logan's house bruised and battered and _alive_, it was to find a surprise waiting for them in the form of none other than Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare, herself. She'd had with her Apollo and Metis, saying that she had the means to make Logan and Violet a map of their own so they had some sort of chance of finding the Key before the others. They had not been apt to trust her at first, already being under the command of John Storms, the reincarnate of Zeus, and wondering why Athena would go against her own father.

It was then Athena had explained she and her associates had wish to rule no more, and knew that Violet and Logan and the rest of their friends felt the same. And when Logan had asked Athena why she was still fighting if she wished not to rule anymore unlike the other Olympians, Athena had simply smiled and said, "_We came to you because we all seem to have a common interest… Putting Kronos down like the rabid dog he is._"

And though they still had not trusted her completely, Violet, Logan and the others had decided they would rather work with her than with Zeus.

"At least she isn't as power hungry," Thaddeus, Logan's long time associate and the reincarnation of Thanatos, the God of Death, had reasoned. "That's better than old Zeusy and the rest of your siblings, Logan."

"I believe Thaddeus has a point," Hecate, the Goddess of Witchcraft and matron figure of the house had said. "Zeus seeks to re-take Olympus during this war. But Athena and her allies, I believe they simply want peace."

"I always trusted her most," Violet had input, biting her lip with caution and throught. "And if she really knows how to make us our own map…"

After Violet's input, Logan had said the matter was settled then. He valued her opinion most, and so they had gone back to Athena the next day and agreed to ally with her, but only just as they could not let Zeus know their alliance had switched for fear of a conflict breaking out in the middle of a much more important war.

"I understand completely," Athena had said. "We will not speak directly after this, but I plan to keep closer tabs on my father in the future. You will see us again."

She had performed the ritual that would make them their own map then, using only just enough of Logan and Violet's blood that they felt light-headed, but were not going to die. Neither Violet nor Logan mentioned her new-found gift of healing during the entire process and what it could mean, they just waited for the spell to end and hoped it actually worked considering it was no longer Halloween and magic wasn't as strong in the mortal world anymore.

Then again, that may have been the reason the spell hadn't caught Logan's house on fire like it had the warehouse Nemesis and the others had trapped them in.

The spell _had_ worked though, making not an actual map with directions, but an enchanted amulet that would pull the wearer to the Key of Tartarus even if it were half-way around the world. The only problem was, was that the enactor of the spell would have to activate the map, and with how much Divinity the enchantment of the amulet had drained from Athena, she had feared she would have to recuperate at least a month before she could activate the map without killing herself.

Since then Logan and Violet had waited for her call saying that she was ready. Violet couldn't truthfully say she didn't mind the break from her other life; it was nice to pretend that she and Logan were a normal couple with normal lives and that the biggest problem Violet had was her upcoming visit from a court-appointed social worker that had to observe her caretaker skills in order to decided on whether or not Violet was capable of being a good legal guardian to her younger brother, Danny, now that their mentally ill mother no longer could fulfill the duty.

"But I will ask again: would you be so inclined to spend the rest of the day with me, love?" Logan asked then, snapping Violet from her thoughts, putting on all his charm so he could get his way as usual. "I am starved for your company."

"I was just at your house less than three days ago," Violet giggled, kicking him playfully in the shin.

Because they had taken to pretending they were normal, that meant Violet had a job to go back to and a house to maintain and a brother to take care of. Between getting Danny to school, paying the bills, keeping up with her best friend Albany, taking care of her pets Marcaria and Galanthias, and visiting her mother in the care home the Porter siblings had moved her to after heavy deliberation, Violet scarcely had time to visit Logan for more than a few days.

Sometimes Violet would get lucky though and Albany would offer to watch Danny on the weekends, or Danny would simply tag along with Violet to Logan's house so she could spend time with him and the others there. Albeit Danny always went grumpily, as he and Albany were still under the guise of Violet's admittedly stupid and ill-thought out cover story that Logan had kidnapped her because he was in the mob and needed her help thanks to the believed false story that the Porters' father had also been in the mob and had left a bad legacy after his death that only Violet could fix.

Violet was still amazed that Danny and Albany had believed her willingly enough about that, but she supposed that the guards posted around her house, workplace and Danny's school helped back the story that she had been thrown into involvement with shady dealings. In reality the guards were there to guard them from threats such as the homicidal Gods that had broken into Logan's place to find information on the Olympians' war plans, murdering two employees and wounding one of the residents, Myrtle, the reincarnation of Melinoe, in the process.

Aster, Tobias and Lawrence had all accepted Violet's lame cover story and acted the part of mob guards though, being good sports about it even though they were far from mobsters. Actually, they were Centaurs, the only thing keeping them from looking their true form being enchanted bracelets that never left their wrists.

"You really don't mind acting like you're from Scarface?" Violet had asked Aster after explaining the situation to him, emphasizing the fact she wanted to keep Danny out of the war as much as possible.

It was unfair enough she'd had her entire life flipped upside down because she was secretly a Goddess' reincarnation; Danny's life didn't have to be ruined anymore than it already had been because of it, too. And though it was hard and often seemed simply petty to lie to him about everything, Violet felt in her gut it was for the best. Thinking that their lives being at risk from other humans was bad enough; Danny didn't need to know that the enemy was actually something unstoppable and old as time.

"I don't mind at all, Ms. Violet," Aster had said to her after agreeing that keeping Danny in the dark was the wisest option in the situation. "I think it might even be a little fun."

And so Aster had spoken to Tobias and Lawrence and they had all agreed that from now on they would wear black suits and sunglasses, and speak in such a heavily cliched accent Violet always wanted to giggle when they talked. Danny had been rightfully terrified of them at first, no matter how much Violet had reassured him they were there for protection and not harm. But eventually he had warmed up to all three of them, especially Lawrence, who helped Danny with his science homework so he wouldn't end up in summer school for failing the subject like the year before.

Albany had taken to the story since the start for the simple fact she found Tobias attractive. Violet hadn't even had to try and convince her they were the good guys; Albany had simply skipped up to Tobias and introduced herself with a wink. She'd been flirting with him ever since, but Tobias was too professional to ever play into it, even though Violet often found him sneaking glances at Albany whenever she was near. Violet figured that was okay though, because it had taken a full week with her back at home before Logan had finally admitted to her that Albany was actually part Nymph, which made her having a potential relationship with a Centaur just a bit less weird.

And Violet had wondered after finding out that her friend was also less-than human if maybe she should tell Albany the truth, because she would understand better than Danny who was simply a mortal. When she'd asked Logan about it though, he'd shaken his head sadly. "You remember how stubborn you were about believing?"

Violet _did _remember with clarity; before her memories of her past life, if someone had told her that she was the incarnation of a Goddess, she would have _laughed_ right in their face. "Yes, I do."

Logan had sighed and continued to explain, "She'll be like that, Violet. You said her dad was never around; he had to have been the Nymph in the equation, otherwise Albany herself would know what she is. She's grown up too human to have it sprung on her now and not think you're crazy like your mother." That last part had stung, because Violet knew how terrified Albany was of the Porters' mom, and she never wanted her best friend to look at her like that.

Or worse, for _Danny_ to look at her like that if he didn't believe her about everything.

So stupid cover story it was, and while Violet hated lying to everyone around her, she was glad to have their hesitant support in her life as she continued her relationship with Logan and waited for the storm on the horizon to break.

"Three days is much too long," Logan groaned, moving forwards to catch Violet at her waist and pull her against him. It was enough shock that Violet almost spilled her coffee, clumsy as she was, but Logan caught the cup just in time and quickly put it and his own on the desk behind them. "Please, spend the day with me?"

"I c_an't_," Violet insisted.

Logan frowned. "What if I were to say I'm dying and your love is the only thing that can revive me?"

"You're such a drama queen," Violet laughed softly, leaning back to look up at him. She had grown up not entirely short, but not nearly as tall as Logan's six-two frame.

"Hmm," Logan mused, moving so that his lips were dangerously close to her own. "And you are a true queen, love. What a pair we must make."

He kissed her then and she felt the warmth curl down into her toes, the spark that never got old between them. His hands grabbed at her desperately as she moved to tangle her fingers in his hair, head tilting to be more accommodating as he deepened the kiss. She felt tingly all over as she pressed closer to him, heart beating in her ears as she tried her hardest not to moan and alert anyone in the back of the shop what was happening up front.

Logan didn't have the same inhibitions though, groaning as Violet's fingers brushed a sensitive spot just behind his ear and bowing her back into the desk so he could all but devour her mouth. "Logan," she hissed as she broke away from him. "We have to be qu_i_e_t_."

"Not if we leave," he said, placing a few kisses at her throat. His teeth brushed over a faded hickey he'd left near her collarbone the past weekend and Violet shivered, wanting to smack the smug smirk off his face that appeared from the action. "It's dead in here anyways."

"I can't leave early two weeks in a row," Violet argued. "Albany's uncle Mic was really stretching his neck when he gave me this job, and I can't just act like I'm not grateful."

Logan simmered down then, pulling back from her a fraction and sighing when he saw the look of resolution on her face. "Damn your goodness," he said after a moment, though she knew he was only joking because he'd admitted her inherent 'goodness' was one of the reasons he loved her. "Can't you at least take lunch?"

"Will forty-five minutes of my company satiate you enough to keep you off your deathbed if I do?" Violet teased, trailing her fingers down between his shoulder blades with a feathery touch.

"_Yes_," he breathed out, leaning in to nip at her bottom lip. "I'll take you to the diner, if you like."

The diner in question was where they'd had their first date, if that was what it could be called. After all, Logan had been using the ploy in order to get her to trust him enough to let him kidnap her in the beginning of things. It hadn't really worked and Thaddeus still had scars in the shape of Violet's nails on his left cheek to prove it. Still, the diner held committing memories and Violet really liked the pomegranate juice they served there.

"Let me just go tell Mic, okay," Violet said, untwining herself from Logan's grasp. "I'll be right back."

"My heart aches for thee whilst thou is gone!" Logan called after her, and she giggled all the way back into the workshop.

It was moments like these where she could believe what they had _was_ real, and she never wanted it to end.

* * *

"How's Wyatt?" Violet asked, sipping at her pomegranate juice as she and Logan sat in a booth by the windows overlooking the street, waiting for their food to cook.

While the diner they were in was supposed to be a cafe in the beginning of things, it had taken to serving items other than coffee and scones after its customers started complaining of lack of variety. Now Violet had the liberty to order a turkey club with fries, and Logan could go as far as to get breakfast in the middle of the afternoon, extra bacon on the side.

"He's good," Logan said, looking over the dessert menu with a shrug. "He just got back from his trip yesterday and he's exhausted, as is to be expected.."

Wyatt was Logan's adopted nephew, a Demi-God in his own right and the youngest tenant of the Fairgrave house not including Danny when he sometimes stayed there with Violet on the weekends. When Violet had first come to live at the Fairgrave house Wyatt had quickly grown to be her best friend, his easy manner and caring personality soothing her from all of the chaos that had been thrown into her life. He was eighteen and a senior in high school; when Violet had first met him he'd been home schooled after getting kicked out of private school for fighting, but Logan had managed to get him into a public high school that he was now attending full-time with decent grades a few new friends.

For four days Wyatt had been on a school camping trip for his geology class, meaning Violet hadn't been able to see him the past weekend she'd spent at Logan's house. She was torn between thinking it a good and a bad thing that he had been gone; Danny had been with her and, to say in the least, he and Wyatt did not get along. Everyone else in the house easily went along with the lie of Violet's lame mobster cover story, but Wyatt had a harder time with it. He'd told Violet he didn't like pretending he was something that he wasn't, especially a bad-guy kind of something considering John Storms, Zeus' reincarnation, was involved in illegal dealings with such people in order to gain his wealth in this lifetime. Wyatt hated John even more than Logan if possible, never understanding why John took such a high interest in him whenever he was near.

"I don't like pretending to be like him, Vi," Wyatt had sighed after she'd asked him to try harder, for Danny's sake. "And if I was Danny, I'd hate being kept in the dark."

"It isn't that simple, Wyatt," Violet had said. "I wish I could just tell him, but what do I do after to help him not be so afraid? What if he doesn't even _believe_ me?"

Even Wyatt had been speechless in answer to that question, though he had tried a little harder after that and offered for Danny to play Call of Duty with him, not getting mad when Danny had refused and sat sulkily on the couch as he always did when spending time at the Fairgrave house.

"Did he make up the math test he had to miss to go on the trip?" Violet asked, tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear unconsciously.

"I think he's in the middle of it right now," Logan said, his foot rubbing up against Violet's calf intimately beneath the table; Violet didn't let him see her blush. "Though unfortunately for him and his GPA, trigonometry does not seem to be his forte."

"They don't even use it in college unless you're a math major, so I don't see its point," Violet shrugged, thinking fondly of the days when she went part-time to the local community college trying to receive a degree in Horticulture so she could be an environmental botanist and explore the world for rare plants one day.

Sometimes she still thought of re-enrolling in the spring if all of the craziness in her life miraculously died down enough. It would be a bit hard to study for biology tests with the Titans taking over the world, after all.

"Yes, well he needs it now, and he needs to pass in order to not be put under academic probation again," Logan said, just as their waitress came over with their orders. "Thank you," he said politely as his plate was set in front of him, waiting until Violet had done the same and the waitress had left to continue. "But I believe it is at least safe to say that Wyatt's father certainly was not a God of Maths, if his last test grade was any indication."

"A 'C' isn't too bad," Violet shrugged, bit into a French fry with instant regret because it was way too hot and burned her tongue. She tried to play it cool and not embarrass herself in front of Logan though, taking a drink of her juice and swallowing painfully instead of spitting the hot bite onto her plate and dramatically waving at her tongue with her fingers like she wanted to. "Who do you think his father could've been?" she asked after a frazzled moment.

Logan pursed his lips around a mouthful of heavily syrup coated waffles. "Don't know," he said, words slurring as he tried to swallow and talk at the same time. "He still hasn't shown any signs of Divinity yet, so it may be a few years yet to tell."

"You really think it won't happen until he's twenty-one?" Violet asked.

"Not fully," Logan said. "If you remember correctly, yours did not manifest until about that time. Neither did mine."

"But I also remembered my past self then," Violet reasoned. "Wyatt's known what he is for seven years, since he came to live with you. Shouldn't that help?"

"I knew who I was after Hecate found me when I was eight," Logan shrugged. "Yet I still could not set fire to shit until I was twenty-one."

"Thank the Gods for that," Violet said. "With the temper tantrums Hecate said you threw when you were little, the whole world would've burned."

"Thanks, love," Logan said sarcastically, took a drink of his water and glanced down at his watch. "Are you coming to stay this weekend?"

"Yes," Violet nodded. "But I have to leave early Sunday because Albany wants to go shopping for a new winter coat, and I said I'd tag along."

"Just bring her with you and you can go into town to look," Logan offered.

"You seriously want her there all weekend?" Violet asked, because while Albany had been able to half-way put her anger towards Logan on the back burner for Violet's sake, the redhead still never bothered to hold her tongue around Logan, and they often fought like cats and dogs whenever near each other.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Logan said. "I don't plan on letting you leave the bedroom all weekend anyways, so she won't have to deal with me too much."

At his comment, Violet nearly choked on the bite of sandwich in her mouth. "You mean, you wanna…" She couldn't finish the sentence, blush forming from her toes all the way to the tips of her ears.

Logan nodded unabashedly. "If you would like to, yes. I have no business calls that may interrupt us, and Thaddeus said he would take everyone in the house to Hartford on Saturday so we could have the house to ourselves."

"Thaddeus knows what we'd be doing!" Violet said, mortified. She knew that the man would tease her about it for _eternity_ if she and Logan really went through with what Logan was suggesting.

"We share a room most nights that you stay, Violet. He thinks it has already happened," Logan said, reached across the table to grab her hand comfortingly. Instantly at his touch she felt a sort of relief. "But if you're uncomfortable with it in any way, that is absolutely fine and we don't have to."

Violet knew he was telling the truth; he had never pressured her, not once. And she and Logan had technically been together for months; they had both said they loved each other, albeit under the threat of death, but she knew they'd both meant it. Because the love she had for him resonated down into her soul, not just because they were Hades and Persephone once, but because they were Logan and Violet now, bone and skin, and she cared for this man more than herself.

So the fact they had never had actual intercourse seemed a bit bizarre.

They'd done other things, of course. There had been a night in Chicago, when all of the Gods at the Fairgrave house had had to go to a gala for John Storms to introduce Violet to the other Olympians, and Logan had finally admitted his feelings to Violet and they'd had a night of passionate..._things_, but it had never led to actual sex.

The next day Violet had talked to Fawn Summers, the incarnation of Persephone's mother, Demeter, and the woman had made Violet question Logan's motives for kidnapping her other than needing her help. It had led to a fight between Violet and Logan, and they hadn't touched again until her birthday a while later. Even then it got no farther than kissing, and within the week Albany and Danny had found Violet again, and Logan had told her to leave with them and Violet had thought he didn't want her anymore, not until she was bleeding to death and a warehouse was exploding around them thanks to magic and they had admitted they loved each other so at least they knew before they possibly _died_.

It'd been nearly a month since then, and while there had been a few more nights like in Chicago, something always interrupted them. Either Logan's work called, or Hecate needed help with a spell, or Myrtle and Marcaria had made a mess, or Danny and Wyatt were arguing, or John Storms was calling, or anything that could possibly keep them from fucking kept them from fucking.

The last straw had been the prior weekend when Violet had gathered every ounce of confidence she could and had tried for the first time to give Logan a blowjob. It had been in his office, and she'd just gotten up enough courage to actually put her mouth on Logan's dick when Thaddeus had burst into the room, proclaiming that an associate of Logan's from New Zealand was on the phone, yelling about how a bunch of Satyrs had wrecked one of his vacation homes again.

Luckily Thaddeus hadn't noticed Violet where she'd been hidden under Logan's desk and Logan had played it cool for her sake, but afterwards she had been too embarrassed to continue, and proclaimed she'd never, _ever_ touch Logan again unless she knew there would be no interference.

Which was what Logan was offering her now- complete isolation from others, the house all to them to do whatever they wanted to for a day.

And while she was kind of terrified of the idea, she was also very, _very_ open to it. "Okay," she said after a moment, squeezing Logan's hand reassuringly. "It's a date."

Logan gave her a dazzling smile. "A date," he said, and she felt her heart thumping in her chest so hard the world could end in that moment and she wouldn't care.

* * *

Back in the Fairgrave house, in the dark depths of the basement locked off to everybody except one, a Goddess with three faces smiled.

"_Love shall be their downfall,_" spoke ancient voices from the room around her, smoke and brimstone curling at the stone walls.

"This I know," said the Goddess, and when she laughed, her eyes turned gold.


	3. At The Corners

"I don't see why it matters if you look all done-up or not; he's still gonna wanna fuck you, Violet."

Violet turned to glare at the redhead standing behind her, frowning as she said, "Oh, would you shut up already and help me pick out a dress, why don't ya?"

Albany threw hands up in the air with a huff. "Fine, fine. Don't bite my head off…" She joined Violet by the dress racks of the local boutique they'd picked to shop in, shuffling through rows of ruffles, sequins and bows.

"What about this one?" Violet asked after a few moments of searching, holding up a lacy, mint colored dress questioningly.

Albany surveyed the garment for a moment before shaking her head. "It would be too complicated to get off."

"Really?" Violet asked sadly, holding the dress out to admire it all the more. "What a shame; it's so pretty."

"Pretty yes," Albany said, then pointed to the back of the article and clicked her tongue. "But those eyelet buttons take forever to get undone, and it kinda kills the mood."

"Damn," Violet said, shoving the dress back onto the wrack. "Well then what buttons should I wear for easier access?"

Albany pursed her lips before turning to shuffle through the dresses some more, giving a small shout of triumph a minute later as she pulled out a glossy, strapless periwinkle dress with flowers on the bodice and just a zipper on the back for holding it closed. It reminded Violet of a more casual version of the dress she'd worn that night in Chicago, when Logan explained his growing feelings for her and they'd shared a night of passion she wasn't apt to forget.

"It's _perfect_," Violet gasped, reached out to look at the size and her face suddenly fell. "But I'm too fat to fit in it now."

Before Logan had taken her away to live with him, Violet had been on the malnourished side of the weight spectrum, to say the least. She liked to wage war with her body for a sense of control in an environment she had no true power over; it'd left her frail and tired at every waking hour of the day. Logan had noticed right off the bat how drained she was and had imposed a strict order that she _eat_, and Violet hadn't really stopped since then.

She'd put on thirty pounds in the last five months, and while Logan seemed to love the extra weight on her, and even she was a bit okay with herself on a good day, it still made finding clothes in her size a real bitch. What fit her bust was too small in the waist, and what fit her waist was too big in the bust. And she didn't even want to _think_ about the horrors of finding pants to fit her hips and thighs anymore. Sometimes she really wanted to diet, but then Hecate would bribe her with home baked cookies on the weekend and she'd think much better of the idea.

"You are not _fat_," Albany sighed, blowing a piece of wild hair out her face.

"Easy for you to say," Violet grumbled. "You have the body of a Goddess," and yes, she realized the irony in her statement as soon as the words had left her mouth.

"It's just genetics," Albany tried to soothe. "Besides, l_o_o_k_. They have the same dress two sizes up!" She held up a carbon copy of the dress from moments before, smiling proudly and thrusting the garment into Violet's arms. "It all worked out!"

Violet stared at the dress for a moment then, the tulle of the skirt and silk of the band around the waist. "Do you think I'm being stupid for making a big deal out of this?"

"Honestly?" Albany drawled. "Yeah. But then again, you're asking a girl who lost her virginity in the back of a station wagon; I'm not really a reliable source on how romantic first times are supposed to go."

"You think it'll really be romantic?" Violet asked uncertainly. "What if I just make an ass of myself, or I don't know how to do it right?"

Albany shook her head and rubbed Violet's arm sympathetically. "Oh, honey, everyone knows how to do it right. It may be awkward at first, but you'll get the hang of it. Besides, you and Logan have done stuff before, so who's to say him putting his p_enis _in you will be any different than his fingers?"

"Uh, it's bigger," Violet said blatantly, failing to ignore the stares of onlookers who had caught snippets of the conversation and were now staring at her and Albany with a mix of shock and distaste; she tried not to let her embarrassed blush give her a heat stroke.

"Well I should hope so!" Albany laughed, drawing even more attention to them.

Violet's flush deepened and she grabbed the redhead's hand, dragging her to one of the dressing rooms and swinging the door shut behind them so no one else could eavesdrop. "But Albany," she said when the lock was clicked in place. "What if it doesn't fit?"

"The dress or his cock?" Albany asked with a smirk.

"The latter," Violet sighed, looking down at the floor with chagrin.

"Well, if his dick doesn't go in then he hasn't made sure you're ready enough and he needs to try harder," Albany said simply, squinting at Violet a moment before letting her sarcastic posture deflate and touching Violet's shoulder again for comfort. "Vi, I promise it won't be too terrible. That man looks at you like you're the sun; I'm sure you could fart in bed and he'd think it was adorable."

Sure enough, that comment brought the blush back to Violet's cheeks almost instantly. "I kinda have already," she said, looking down at the floor and shifting nervously. "I tried blaming it on Marcaria."

"You _didn't_!" Albany nearly cackled, taking her hand from Violet's shoulder only to use it to shove her playfully. "Oh my _God_. How did that end up for you?"

Violet groaned and shoved her face in her hands. "He knew I was lying, but he didn't call me out on it. But then he, well-" she looked up again and smiled goofily in memory- "he farted too, really _loud_, and blamed it on Marcaria."

Albany was almost crying at this point from laughing so hard. "Oh my G_od_, what happened next?!"

It was hard for Violet to talk between sudden giggles as she explained, "We laughed so hard that Logan fell off the bed, then Marcaria looked at us like we were insane and slept with Myrtle the rest of the weekend."

"Oh that is the b_est_," Albany said after another fit of laughter, wiping a few stray tears with the back of her hand. "I'm going to tell that story to my grandchildren someday."

"Please don't," Violet said. "I don't want them thinking of me as the aunt that passes gas in bed all the time."

"Nonsense; a story like that can't be wasted, Violet."

With a sigh, Violet rolled her eyes at her best friend and turned to try the dress on, assessing her frame in the mirror a moment before shedding her thick coat and blouse, followed by her skirt until she was left in just her bra and tights and flats. It wasn't as if she hadn't changed in front of Albany a million times before; they'd been best friends since birth and Albany knew every secret Violet had...except for the part where Violet was the incarnation of an ancient Goddess in the middle of trying to stop what could be considered the next apocalypse.

But even though Albany knew most of Violet's dark, mortal secrets, it never kept her eyes from flinching when she saw the dark red lines over Violet's ribs and stomach. "I thought you quit," the redhead said after a moment, a soft kind of sadness leaking into her voice.

"The social worker set a date for the inspection," Violet murmured as she stepped into the dress and pulled it up around her torso."I've only got two weeks before she might try to take Danny away from me."

"I don't think that'll happen Vi," Albany said, moving to zip Violet up into the dress. "You're the best person Danny could possibly have caring for him."

"Hmm," Violet mused, quickly trying to change the subject as she asked, "Does my butt look alright in this?"

She didn't like hearing compliments about herself, especially not when it came to compliments about taking care of Danny. Every day she was lying to him and putting him in danger because of it. Sometimes she thought it would be better if the court took him from her and gave him to a family that was normal.

But then she remembered Nemesis' threats- how she would always find Danny and kill him if Violet didn't do as the woman wished. At least with Danny under her watch, Violet could actively defy Nemesis' orders by simply _living_ without worrying about the woman getting to him. Having Danny as her ward meant Violet knew where he was at all times, and that gave her at least a bit of a sense of security. Plus having two Centaurian guards tailing him at all times helped ease her anxieties a little, too.

Albany played into Violet's game quick enough, musing that the dress gave Violet a grandiose of curves and accentuated the muscles in her legs. "The running's paying off for you already, girl," Albany grinned, pinching the newly set muscle of Violet's thigh so that she squeaked and nearly jumped out of her shoes.

Violet had taken to jogging at least five nights a week to ensure she stayed at the line of the thirty pounds she'd already gained and not the line of the forty pounds her body was pushing for. Three laps around her own neighborhood in middle Boston, two around the Fairgrave house's entirety. She was no athlete, but she'd been getting better as the weeks had worn on.

One night while staying the weekend at the Fairgrave house she had tried to get Logan to go with her, just to get him away from work and life for a bit. And while she wasn't in olympic shape by any means, she had admittedly still felt like laughing when noticing Logan was out of breath after less than half a lap.

"How do you stay in shape?" she'd asked him, jogging in place as he braced hands to knees and bent over gasping for air.

"Weights," he'd said between puffs of breath. "There's a..s_et_ in one of the…sp_ar_e r-rooms on the ground floor… Not so much cardio involved."

"Why didn't you ever go with Thaddeus?" she'd asked, because she'd seen the elder man doing laps much like they'd been in the middle of, though Thaddeus' pace had been considerably faster and much more persistent.

Logan had looked up to glare at her. "And endure him?"

"You're such a sourpuss," Violet had teased, wrinkling her nose. Then she'd smiled at him and reached out to push at his shoulder, shouting, "Tag, you're it!" before taking off again.

"Violet!" Logan had called after her.

"You're _it_!" she'd sing-songed back, renewed vigor in her sprint.

He'd only laughed and chased after her, but it was the last time she'd had company on her runs at the house, Logan sticking to the weights apparently. Not that she could complain about it– she very much liked the lean muscle of him and the way the lack of cardio didn't make him completely toned, but just cushioned enough she could lay her head on his stomach and use it as a makeshift pillow when he did the newspaper crossword at night while she read her novel of the week.

"So, for the big night do you plan to go bareback or wear a raincoat?"

Violet jerked around to stare at Albany with wide eyes for the comment. "_What_?!"

"You know, condoms," Albany chuckled. "You're not on the pill or anything, so I'd say it'd be the safest bet just to wrap it before you tap it."

"Oh Gods," Violet said, hiding her face in her hands again. "I hadn't even thought of that."

"To be honest it's better without one," Albany shrugged. "But then again, I take the baby suppressor capsule, so I don't have to worry about it as long as I know my partner's clean… Do you know if Logan's clean?"

"Yeah," Violet said, peeking out from between her fingers. "He got tested right before we got together and he showed me the results a few weeks ago after I jokingly asked if I'd catch anything from him. He's got a clean bill of health in that department, but his blood pressure's a little high. Probably because he lets himself get so angry and stressed over stupid shit."

"Like his siblings?" Albany asked sympathetically.

Violet had told her and Danny a half-lie that Logan's siblings by divine order were his siblings by blood, for sake of keeping up human appearances. It made the charade easier when one of the Olympians called the Fairgrave house and Logan started cursing them loudly with terms like '_brother_' and '_sister_' while Danny or Albany were over. Suffice to say, Violet had given Danny and Albany the impression that Logan's siblings were in the mob too.

And sometimes she really wondered what miracle had caused Danny and Albany to believe such an ill-thought out lie.

"Yeah, his siblings," Violet mused, smoothing the dress out and taking one last look before asking Albany to unzip her. "Did you know his sister-in-law, Helen, called the other day just to tell him he needed to redecorate the house?"

"But his house is like something out of a fucking fantasy novel!" Albany balked, putting the dress back on the hanger as Violet slipped on her skirt and blouse. "It could be on the cover of every home magazine in the world!"

"I know," Violet said, adjusting her blouse before slipping her coat back on. "I think she did it just to push his buttons since he hasn't called his brother, John, in a while about the business."

Albany stiffened at the term _business_. "I wouldn't have called about that shit either, if I were him. Not when he's got a girl like you to come home to rather than a horse head in my bed."

"Albany, that was just in a movie!" Violet laughed as the two exited the dressing room to head towards the front counter, the onlookers from earlier taking quick glances of them before turning away to act like they hadn't been staring when Violet nervously met their eyes.

"And you would know that it was just in a movie _how_?" Albany asked as she slapped the dress onto the counter for the elderly cashier there to ring up.

"Hello," Violet said politely to the woman before turning back to Albany at a loss of an answer. "It's just really cliche?" she tried.

"So are your bodyguards' accents, but hey, to each their own," Albany tisked, stepped back as the elderly cashier told Violet her total and waited for a tender form to pay with.

For a moment Violet was caught off-guard by the price; it was a bit higher than she had realized, but the dress was simply so beautiful that half a week's worth of pay seemed fair enough to go towards its purchase. After all, Logan had stubbornly insisted on paying her rent for the month even though she'd been a little upset about it because she hated when he paid for things for her, but that had simply meant that she had a bit more cash for her and Danny's recreational spending budget. She'd gotten Danny the newest enhancers for his gaming system already, so she figured she could spend some money on herself, too.

"There's matching shoes for this dress in the back," the elderly cashier said kindly after she had swiped Violet's debit and handed the dress bag to her along with her receipt.

"Oh goodness, no thank you," Violet said self-consciously. "I'm all charged out for the month."

"Not if you just give in to the whims of your sugar daddy," Albany said, inspecting her nails in a bored sort of manner as she leaned back against the counter leisurely.

Violet blushed at the way the cashier's eyes widened. "I can take care of myself, Albany," she said, thaked the cashier and dragged her friend onto the street before she could say anything else on the matter in front of the entire store. "I don't like Logan thinking he has to buy my affection, or something."

"Hey, a man could buy _my_ affection any day, is all I'm saying," Albany drawled with a wave of her hands. "I mean, all I ever usually get for blowjobs is a pat on the back. Is it too much to ask for diamonds for once?"

"I don't think Logan would give me diamonds for giving him a blow job," Violet snorted, swinging her bag a little as they walked.

"He would if you do it _right_, my friend," Albany smirked. "Now come, let us go get you all dolled up so you can tease Logan mercilessly tonight until he finally gets to consummate his fiery, passionate love with you that will be so fantastical an ordeal angels will sing."

"You're such a dork," Violet chuckled, following Albany towards the bus stop and avoiding busy bodies on the frigid sidewalk.

She bumped into someone after just a couple of steps though, looking up to apologize only to be caught in the hard stare of gray eyes. "Sorry…" she said, apology trailing off as the man stared her down and raised a brow expectantly. "Do I know you?"

"In another life, perhaps," said the man, mouth curling at the corners. "I shall see you soon, my Queen."

He brushed past Violet before she could put his words together; it took just another moment and she whirled around to call after him, but he had already disappeared into the crowd. _What in the world… _Violet thought, a ringing in her ears and a bitter taste in her mouth.

Had he been what she thought he was...?

The sudden hand on her shoulder was the only thing to shock Violet from the stupor of such a discovery; she whirled to find Albany looking at her with concern. "Hey, you okay? You just sort of stopped for no reason for a moment there."

"Sorry," Violet said, glancing over her shoulder flabbergastedly. "I thought I say someone I knew."

Albany squinted at her in the afternoon sun, shook her head after a moment and moved to walk towards the bus stop once more. "Probably just had one of those faces."

"Yeah," Violet said, wandering dazedly at the redhead's side. "I guess so."

* * *

"I am at an utter loss for words right now."

"Aw, come on, boss man, it ain't that bad."

Logan looked up from where his fingers were digging into the bridge of his nose, supporting arm resting in the palm of the other arm wrapped across his chest irately. Over the years he had learned this was one of the only poses that helped him contain his anger in the face of sheer stupidity, but at this point even a straight-jacket may not keep him from exploding.

Twisting his hand away from his nose but not uncrossing his arms less he beat the man in front of him to death, Logan said with controlled malice, "You put a _hole_ through a four-foot thick, ancient black magic enchanted, Roman granite wall with a dead _cat_, Thaddeus. Forgive me for not believing it isn't _that bad_."

"In my defense, it was Chad's idea to fortify the cat so he wouldn't die again if he ever got run over by another car," Thaddeus said, holding his hands up in mock defense.

Logan's jaw twitched and he could feel the vein near his temple pulsing as he grabbed at the bridge of his nose again. "I don't bloody care _who_'s idea it was to turn the cat into an unbreakable wrecking ball. What I care about is the fact that there is a _hole_ in the wall that defends my _house_ from T_ar_t_ar_us d_e_mo_ns_, and my girlfriend is driving here for what she expects to be a pleasant weekend _free of hellhounds_. Do you not realize the gravity of this situation!?" By this point he was yelling, arms still pushed against his chest but his free hand waving dramatically; if Thaddeus said even close to the wrong thing, Logan would send him burned and screaming into his next life.

"I understand, boss," Thaddeus finally settled on saying. "I'll go get Chad and Wyatt and we'll start patching everything up so Hecate can enchant the borders again before queenie gets here, alright?"

Logan blew steam through his nose, trying to calm the hellfire threatening at his fingertips. "You had better hurry, if you expect to be finished by the time Violet gets here."

"Right away, boss," Thaddeus said, didn't waste a moment's time before scurrying off to find the other men that had aided in the fiasco that had become the house's south-west gate wall.

Logan used Thaddeus' newfound absence to calm himself, staring into the forest beyond with anger and hesitence. Was it too much of him to ask the universe for things to be perfect for just a day and a half? All he needed was thirty-six hours so he could finally show Violet how much he loved her.

Because, Gods, how much he fucking loved that girl.

It had been just a month since he had nearly lost her to those bastard Titan sympathizers, and every day he thanked the stars more and more for letting her be a part of his life. She was like a light in the darkness of all of this wartime panic; always sunny even on her bad days. Her inherent humanness was a tether for Logan, something to make him realize just how mortal he had become over the centuries. Because while Hades had loved Persephone, that love didn't compare to the love Logan had for Violet, not even close.

Sighing, he stepped forwards and flexed one of his hands experimentally before summoning a small dose of strength and lighting the ground just past the hole in the wall on fire. Luckily it had just been a section of the wall that Thaddeus, Chad and, more than likely, Wyatt had destroyed, meaning it was just this space where the wards had been broken. Hellfire was enough to keep cacodemons or laelaps or any such other nightmare out until the idiots could rebuild the wall and Hecate could reinstate the bonds that protected this edge of the house.

After making sure the fire wouldn't go out, Logan turned on his heel and stalked back towards the house, slamming closed the kitchen door behind him. Myrtle was sitting in one of the chairs at the kitchen table, knitting and humming to herself. She didn't even bat an eye at Logan's foul temper, the most well adjusted of anyone in the house even if she was a little crazy.

Stomping up to his office, Logan finally took the chance to loosen his tie after a long day of work and making plans to fix one of his vacation homes again after a few Satyrs had tried to turn it not into the Garden of Babylon this time, but the Garden of Eden. Logan didn't really see a difference in the objectives though; either way the house's roof always collapsed and the neighbors always threatened to alert the cops. Eighteen phone calls and a couple hundred thousand dollars later, and Logan had managed not to get a warrant in New Zealand under his name for destruction of property without a permit. He'd also made sure to let the Satyrs know that this was the last straw, and if they got a strike three he'd personally see to it they never lived in mortal society again.

Overall it had been an awful day, and the only thing keeping Logan from turning to a handful of aspirin and a tumbler of whiskey was the thought that soon Violet would be here. And that tomorrow they had the entire day to themselves, alone.

And while he was unbearably eager for such an opportunity, he also had to admit he felt a bit of trepidation down in his gut. He didn't want to let Violet down, as she still had her inhibitions whenever they were together and he didn't want to push her too far.

Really the biggest problem though was that Logan simply longed to give Violet some sort of reciprocation for all the meaning she brought to his life. It was frustrating to know he was shittily equipped to pay her back emotionally, meaning the physical realm was his limitation. It was especially impractical to the situation considering that Violet was completely inexperienced with such a realm and everyone in this goddamned house cockblocked them every fucking chance they got.

A knock at his office door thirty minutes later only served to agitate Logan all the more; he figured it was Thaddeus come along with more bad news. "What?" he snapped, waiting for the patron in the hall to come in.

But the patron was not Thaddeus- no, the frame was entirely too ethereal and feminine. "I just thought you would like to know I am headed down to bless the wards, my lord. The others are almost finished repairing the damage they made."

"Thank you, Hecate," Logan said, letting some of his previous anger fade as the Goddess bowed her head in acknowledgement. "Will you be joining us all for dinner tonight once Violet gets here?"

Ever since John Storms had used Hecate as a pawn to employ a spell to find more Gods to ally with the Olympians in the upcoming war, Logan had noticed that the Goddess had not been the same. She had once been a very social being, eating every meal with all occupants of the house and taking Wyatt into town every weekend to do the grocery shopping at the farmer's market. She had once loved to spend hours cooking in the kitchen, talking to Violet about journals of her past lives, and teaching Myrtle how to crochet and Chad how to flip pancakes without making a mess.

But now Hecate never spent time around anyone; she was always cooped up in the darkness of the basement doing Gods knew what.

And her eyes still hadn't fully switched back to their natural green from the funky golden color she'd come home from Chicago with.

"I believe I will, my lord. I have finally fixed the kinks in Violet's amulet, and wish to give it back to her," Hecate smiled, the voice of the maiden, mother and crone blurring her words together.

The amulet she was speaking of was one she'd given Violet for her twenty-first birthday a few months ago. It had been blessed so that when Violet wore it other Gods could not identify her Divinity and try to steal it from her. But the spell had backfired in a terrible way, not only cloaking Violet's Divinity from others, but cloaking others' Divinity from Violet. It had allowed for a man named Michael, the incarnation of Ares, to trick her on Halloween and steal her away to use her to lure Logan to abandoned warehouse where blood was spilt and war was declared.

"You're sure it will only cloak her and no one else this time?" Logan asked, eyeing Hecate critically. Sometimes it made him feel like a traitor for questioning her word as much as he had lately- he had grown with her as a mother figure from a young age. But then she made one too many mistakes the moment he stopped watching, and he realized his suspicion was for the better.

"Yes, my lord," Hecate said, bowing her head humbly. "I promise nothing bad shall happen to little Violet under the amulet's care again."

"Okay," Logan said, leaned forwards in his chair and ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. "I suppose you should go help the idiots finish up out there, before they decide to throw that mutant cat zombie through the wall again."

"Aye, my lord," Hecate grinned. "Little Violet shall be here in thirty minutes, and dinner will be done in forty-five. I suggest you get ready for her arrival now while you still have time."

Hecate turned to leave then, and Logan decided to take her advice to get ready before Violet arrived, only to be hindered by the ringing of his cell phone just as he stood to go to his room to change. Groaning, he took the device out of his pocket with the expectation it was the New Zealand Police calling to say they were going to sue him for property damage, only to be surprised it was someone entirely different on the other line.

"Hello?" Logan asked irately, tapping his foot against the floor until suddenly he froze when the voice on the other line spoke.

"_Hello, Uncle. I believe we have some unfinished business to attend to._"


	4. From The Cliff

**A/N:** Hey guys, I just wanted to say this will probably be the last update for this month. I have finals coming up, and a lot of term papers to write, so I won't have much time for leisure writing. But, I have the full-out plan for the book down now, and so I can't wait to get back to it when I have time. Oh, and I hope you guys are liking the weather now that Persephone's back underground and it's getting cold again; I know Hades is ;)

Until next time, much love and please tell me what you guys think so far!

* * *

"I think this is probably the stupidest idea you have ever had."

"I wouldn't say _the_ stupidest."

"Dude, you're jumping off of a thirty foot tall cliff just to get some dumb guy's attention. That's pretty stupid."

"He isn't dumb. He's dreamy."

"Whatever man, say that when you're dead."

"You know what, maybe I will, Dean."

Dean looked away from the cliff's edge, focusing through the thick lenses of his glasses to glare at the boy standing before him with a mix of admiration and sheer annoyance. "Please at least tr_y_ to be careful, Navi. I don't wanna have to ouji your ass out of the afterlife just to find out where you keep your Pokemon card stash at so I can sell them on the internet after your death."

"A true friend to the end," Navi smiled back, teeth flashing white in the afternoon sun. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a man to bag."

"Yeah, you do that," Dean said with a roll of his eyes. "But I'm not giving your memorial speech!"

For his part, Navi didn't answer with anything other than a wave over his shoulder as he climbed up to the cliff mount, settling near the edge. As he did so, Dean couldn't help but think about how stupid this whole situation was and what an idiot his best friend was being. Navi was basically risking his life to try and impress a boy that was as straight as a nail and wouldn't date him even if Hell froze over. Sometimes Dean felt bad for Navi when he ended up liking a douchebag; sometimes Dean felt like Navi deserved it because he _acted_ like a douchebag when he ended up liking a douchebag.

Still, Dean couldn't help but murmur a steady cadence of '_don't fall, don't fall, don't fall_' the closer Navi got to the edge. And by now Navi had whistled to the people below- most importantly, his crush- to signal their attention. Dean could hear the answering catcalls from where he rested back against the cliff's side, breath coming in rapid pants as he suddenly had a very bad feeling about all of this.

But just as he opened his mouth to tell Navi to get down, that this wasn't going to work, his friend took the plunge. And it didn't happen in slow motion like in the movies; one second Navi was on the cliff's edge and the next there was a sickening splash, screams from all around.

Dean didn't even think about it when he rushed down the cliff's side to the water's edge, cutting his palms and knees in the tumble, glasses getting lost.

Someone was already dragging Navi out of the water by the time Dean's fit hit the sand, one of Navi's legs bent at an odd angle and blood spurting in a rush from his head. A few people were pulling out cellphones to call for emergency services, others debating on whether or not to move Navi's body any further onto the shore; some were simply screaming about all the blood.

And yet all Dean could focus on was how suddenly aware he was of his friend's dulling heartbeat.

"Move," he said, stepping up to where the others had laid Navi out on the sand near the lake's edge.

"Hey man, I don't think you should touch him," said a guy from off to the side- Navi's crush, the one he'd done all of this for.

"_Move_," Dean stated again, no room for argument to his tone.

The guy held his hands up and did as told, everyone near forming a small circle to watch as Dean kneeled down next to Navi, feeling his friend's blood thrum under his fingertips as he checked for a pulse.

It was faint, but Navi wasn't dead yet.

Without further thought, Dean leaned down and let his hands settle against Navi's chest, directly over his heart. He closed his eyes, a greater instinct inside of him screaming for _light_ and _breath_ and _life_.

_I can fix this,_ he told himself, though the voice in his head was so much wiser and more ancient than his own. _I can fix this._

Something hot stirred inside his chest then, like drinking hot chocolate too fast so it burns all the way down. He thought that the feeling was kind of funny, that it didn't belong, but then there was a _pull _and the sound of muscle tearing, of blood flowing anew.

_I can fix this._

Navi gasped for breath, sitting up violently so his head almost smacked into Dean's. When their eyes met, Dean could see the way that Navi's irises glowed a deep blue, completely unnatural and ephemeral, a sight lost in time.

Navi smiled then, a dazed little smile before asking, "Why are your eyes glowing?" and passing out again.

When emergency services finally arrived ten minutes later, they said that Navi would be fine; his leg was fractured and he had a mild concussion, but that was the worst of it. Dean sat with a blanket around his shoulders in the back of an ambulance as they took Navi to the hospital, waiting for his mom to come and pick him up so they could follow and he could make sure Navi was okay first-hand.

He hadn't recovered his glasses from the cliff side yet, but he could see just fine- well enough to notice that the cuts he'd gotten on his hands and knees from the sharp scrape of the rocks were gone.

"And you're sure there was that much blood?" an officer was asking one of the witnesses- a girl Dean recognized from his third period English class- off to the other side of the ambulance.

"Ye_s_," she said, braces blurring her emphasized syllables. "He should have been _de_a_d_, but he wasn't!"

Dean blinked at her statement, mind racing back to the odd twist of Navi's leg, the way his head had been pouring rivers of red. He _had_ been dying, but then Dean had touched him, and he had healed him so that it was like Navi had never had any serious injuries in the first place.

_I can fix this._

Exhaling softly, Dean turned to the mirror at the edge of the ambulance's wall, made eye contact with himself and gasped when he found his own eyes had the same unnatural glow Navi's had had, only his were a deep golden color instead of blue.

After a moment, he sighed and turned away from the mirror, shaking his head. "Stupidest idea _ever_."

* * *

"The size of this house will never cease to amaze me," Albany said as she, Violet, Danny and Marcaria entered into the driveway of the Fairgrave residence after the gate had opened for them.

Both Albany and Danny thought it was a high-tech system that identified the weight of car rolling over a sensor so that the gate would automatically open for them without having to call up to the house first, but Violet knew better. It was in fact magic that identified them as friend, not foe, that made the gates open for Albany's old pickup, slamming closed behind them immediately to keep anyone or _anything_ unwanted out.

"I think it's an ego complex," Danny grumbled from where he sat between Violet and Albany in the cab, arms crossed over his chest. "Why else would Fairgrave need such a big house?"

Violet rolled her eyes, petting Maria's head where the pup was stretched out across her and half of Danny's laps. "It's a family heirloom," she lied, though it was not technically a lie as Logan had built the house in one of his past lives, and left it to himself throughout the centuries as a sort of cosmic inheritance.

"Guess you make bank when you pop caps in peoples' knees for a living," Danny murmured, though this time Violet chose not to make a comment.

She and Logan had had a discussion about the fact that Danny harbored no good feelings towards their relationship. Logan had told Violet that he understood that Danny would probably never truly like him after the hell he'd put the Porter family through when he'd taken Violet in the middle of the summer, turning their lives upside down. He said he would accept the consequences, and try to make it up to Danny in any way he could. There hadn't been much progress thus far, but Danny at least didn't refuse to go to the Fairgrave house with Violet on weekends if Albany was busy and couldn't watch him.

Or, in this case, if Albany was tagging along for the stay.

As soon as the truck was parked Violet braved stepping out into the cold, Marcaria going with her and barking happily to be back on Fairgrave land. She was a canine handmaiden of Artemis- the more Gods she was near the happier she was. Violet patted her on the head reassuringly before grabbing the bags from the truck bed, Albany and Danny stepping out to help. They only had a backpack a piece, but with a large dog riding along in the cab with them their belongings had had to sit in the back.

"I hope my makeup doesn't freeze," Albany had complained just before they'd left Boston.

"Better your makeup than the dog," Danny had shot back.

It didn't stop Albany from checking on her things as soon as she had her bag in her hands. "You guys are lucky my Mary Kay didn't spoil."

Danny sighed, and Violent simply smiled at her friend softly, hoisting her bag farther up on her shoulder. "Come on. It's too cold to stand out here."

Tthe group didn't even manage to step fully onto the front porch before the front door was opening wide, Logan there in an instant to startle them all as he grabbed Violet into a tight embrace and twirled her in a circle. It was a bit unexpected, and had Logan not had such a good grip on her, Violet might have just fallen right off of the porch and into a snow drift.

"You're certainly eager," she laughed once he had set her back on her feet.

"I'm happy to see you, is all," Logan said, but Violet could see the worry in the lines around his mouth, the fear.

She wanted to ask him what was wrong, opened her mouth to do so just when Albany cleared her throat, asking to get inside and away from the winter around them. Violet held her tongue then, took Logan's hand reassuringly as everyone moved into the entry foyer, marble and crystal all around. Sometimes Violet thought Logan's house was beautiful, and other times she felt it was a little overkill, especially on days like these where everything sparkled so brightly her eyes hurt.

"Dinner is almost finished cooking," Logan said once the front door was shut and they'd all wiped the snow off their boots. Except for Marcaria of course; the moment the dog was in through the door she bounded off to go find Myrtle and give her old friend what Violet supposed would be a slobbery hello. "You all have time to unpack first, if you wish."

"Sounds good," Albany cooed, looking around her dazedly at all of the shine. "Which room should I take?"

"I always have the one next to Violet's old room," Danny mumbled. "But the one across is vacant. I can show you if you want?"

Albany grinned and nodded. "Race you up!"

"You're on," Danny said.

They took off up the stairs after that, leaving just Violet and Logan together in the foyer.

Violet took the opportunity to look up at him then, squeeze his hand a little tighter. "What's wrong, Logan?" she asked.

He blinked down at her in surprise, still not used to the fact another person could read him so blatantly. "Oh, it's nothing. Still in the middle of a bit of an ordeal with New Zealand, is all."

And Violet didn't really believe him, but she didn't want to push right now either, not until they were truly alone for the evening. "Okay…" she tried. "You can talk to me about it later, if you want?"

"Alright," Logan said dismissively, glanced between her and the stairs and changed the subject. "Would you like company putting your things away?"

"I'll be okay on my own," Violet said, biting her lip as a sudden ache formed in her chest; she hated it when he wouldn't tell her things. It reminded her of the beginning, when he always kept her in the dark and wouldn't explain to her why he'd brought her to his home, what he needed her help for. "I'll meet you in the dining room in fifteen?"

"Of course," he said, leaned down to kiss her softly, yet with a franticness behind it that left her nerves singing. "See you soon."

Violet nodded hesitantly, turned to go to the third floor with a bit of disappointment. What if, she wondered, he was nervous about what they had planned for tomorrow? What if he had changed his mind and he didn't want to be with her like that anymore? He'd promised after he'd let her go the first time that he never would again, but that was when their affections were still novel. What if Logan had realized Violet wasn't all that she was cracked up to be now that she wasn't Persephone anymore, an old thought came back to nag at her.

Her room was always how she'd previously left it when she came back on weekends, but when she opened the door this time she felt the atmosphere seemed a bit more dense than normal. Her books were still there though, the ones Logan had bought her when she'd had nothing of her own after first coming here. Her unfinished canvases still sat in corners, her wardrobe still full of all the beautiful clothes he'd tried to buy her affections with in the beginning.

She set her backpack on the fourposter bed, dust from the canopy raining down in the last rays of sunlight cast through the room's lone window. Biting nervously at the inside of her cheek, she shed her coat, her scarf and gloves. The dress she'd bought earlier in the day would be saved until tomorrow, when Logan may actually have the chance to take if off of her, if he still wanted to, that was.

Gods how she hoped he still wanted her.

The knock on her open bedroom door within the next few minutes was the only thing that seemed to shock Violet from her reprieves. She whirled to find a familiar frame, not hulking exactly, but wide enough to block the space between the doorframe. Thaddeus was a slightly graying man from the Ukraine who had a face hard to miss, especially when he was smiling like an old sap and striding forwards to tug Violet into a welcome hug.

"Everyone's hugging me today," she laughed into his chest, pulling away softly to find the gray of his eyes staring down at her.

"I had to, queenie. Don't you know I nearly died today?"

"How so?" Violet asked, hoping he was just being dramatic as she turned back to unpack.

"You remember Bartholomule?" Thaddeus asked, and Violet nodded because how could she forget a half-rotted house cat brought back to life with a necromancy spell? "Well, Chad was worried he was gonna die again soon, so he kinda cast a protection spell on the damned thing. It turns out it was a fortification spell though, and it turned the cat impervious to being broken by anything."

"It wh_at_?" Violet asked, blinking away her shock after a moment and adding, "Gods, the things Hecate's spell books hold."

"Right?" Thaddeus chuckled, sitting down on the edge of her bed and stretching out his back as Violet set about placing her pajamas in a dresser drawer. "Well, anyway, Wyatt and I kinda wanted to test the feline out, and so we sorta...sh_ot_ him at...the back, um, wall…"

Violet stopped in the middle of going to hang the dress up in the wardrobe. "You _what_?!"

Thaddeus held his hands up in mock defense much like he had done with Logan earlier in the day. "He's impenetrable, remember? Nothing kills the cat. So we taped him to a firework and shot him at the back wall, and the stupid thing broke through it, and then Logan got mad because it kinda broke the wards, and that's when I thought I was gonna die because Chad and Wyatt took off and left me to face the music alone."

"Oh, but is Bartholomule okay?" Violet asked, considering the poor thing had been shot through a granite wall attached to a firework that probably exploded on him during contact.

"You're worried about the stupid cat after what I just told you?" Thaddeus asked, looking a bit hurt. Violet inclined her head, calling him out on his dramatics, which made him sigh. "The cat's fine. Spell's absolutely foolproof and it looks like the mangy thing is gonna live forever. His tail didn't even singe after it caught on fire."

"Magic," Violet laughed half-heartedly, plugging her phone charger into the wall and attaching it to her cellphone. "Gotta love it."

"Yeah…" Thaddeus said, reassessed her a little more and then frowned. "Hey, you alright queenie? You seem a bit down."

"Oh, I'm fine," Violet lied, not wanting to impose her problems upon him.

"You're lying," Thaddeus said within the same second, raising a brow expectantly. "What's wrong?"

Violet bit her lip, lost the war with herself and sat down next to him on the bed, frowning, "Logan's acting strangely," she said, shook her head. "I feel like I'm jumping to conclusions, but I wonder if I did something wrong and it's my fault? Or if he's hesitant about tomorrow?"

For a moment Thaddeus said nothing in reply, stroked his chin thoughtfully before making a clicking sound with his tongue. "Queenie, that boy looks at you like you hung the fuckin' moon. How could him acting weird possibly be your fault?"

"What if he doesn't want me anymore?" Violet asked self-consciously, felt like she was fishing for reassurances but couldn't help herself. "What if the infatuation has worn off?"

"It isn't infatuation between you two, queenie. It's love," Thaddeus said, reached out to pat her on the shoulder with a soft grin. "The only reason Logan'd be nervous about tomorrow is because he doesn't wanna fuck anything up."

"You think?" Violet asked, praying Thaddeus was right and that was all there was to it.

"I _know_. He'll get over it real quick once you two are finally alone for once," Thaddeus grinned.

Violet tried to smile back.

"Now," Thaddeus said as he stood up and rubbed a hand over his stomach, "let's go eat. I'm starvin'."

"Okay," Violet said as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and followed him out into the hall, running into Albany and Danny on the way.

The four of them went downstairs through the foyer and into the main hall, following it to the dining room. Logan was already there, Myrtle, Marcaria, Chad, Wyatt and Hecate included. The latter was the first of them to greet Violet, wrapping her up in a tight hug. Logan had commented a few weeks ago how Violet was the only one the woman showed affection to anymore; she'd been cold to everyone else in the house except Wyatt upon occasion, which was very strange behavior for the naturally loving woman. They all still blamed it on the Divinity zap she'd suffered when trying to find the Erinyes for John Storm, but kept a careful eye on Hecate just in case.

"Welcome back, little one," Hecate said with a grin into Violet's shoulder. "I have a surprise for you after dinner."

Violet pulled away from their embrace with a questioning look, cut off in asking what the surprise was as Wyatt came up beside her to kiss her cheek, one arm going around her in a sloppy hug. Danny bristled to the side but Violet ignored him, returning Wyatt's affections in kind. "How are you, Vi?" Wyatt asked, all youthful grin and smelling of hair-gel grease and teenage boy sweat.

"I'm okay Wyatt," Violet said. "How was your trip?"

"It was great!" Wyatt enthused, and so they all fell into a seat around the table and passed food this way and that, listening to Wyatt talk about how interesting the composition of Connecticut soil is, and how he and his friend from school, Christa, got an A-plus on their reflection paper about the trip.

"Congrats, man," Chad said from the other side of the table where he was biting into a roll hungrily. "I sucked so bad at geology in high school. Don't ask me how, but I barely passed with a C-minus."

"That's because you're an idiot," Thaddeus teased, and Chad flipped him the bird before sulking in his seat.

Violet had wondered for a while if there was more going on between the two of them other than friendship, and in times like these she questioned what had created the rift that so often appeared in the men's conversations.

Only the sudden feel of Logan's hand grabbing hers under the table distracted her; she looked at him from the side of her eye and found he was staring at her with a certain sort of look she could only decide was ache. Something inside of her chest stirred, a feeling of love and panic and she wasn't fully immune to letting it show, her expression pulling at the corners. Without thinking about it she leaned over to kiss him full on the mouth, causing an awkward stir of coughs and sniffles around the room as the two weren't ones for heavy displays of public affection, especially at the dinner table.

Violet pulled away with a blush, finding Logan looking at her and just her, uncaring about the discomfort of everyone else around the table.

"So Danny, Albany, how about tomorrow you guys come with Myrtle, Chad, Wyatt, Evangeline and I to the Peabody Museum?" Thaddeus asked then, just to dispel the tension.

Albany glanced awkwardly up from her salad just as Danny looked away in shock from where he'd been glaring at Logan, giving Thaddeus a questioning once-over. He'd been terrified of the man since the start, and it seemed like no amount of time spent around Thaddeus' naturally calm disposition changed that.

"Why aren't Violet and Logan going?" Danny asked after a moment, mouth a thin line of suspicion.

"We have official business to take care of," Logan answered, finally turning away from Violet and adapting a solemn expression that not even a Judge of the Underworld could see through.

Danny swallowed heavily, opened his mouth and closed it again with a _click_.

"We'd love to go," Albany broke in, a rush of relief. "What time did you guys wanna leave?"

"We were thinking eight in the morning," Thaddeus began, the table falling back into easy conversation, all except for Danny, who was still looking at Violet and Logan with an air of hesitance Violet knew as worry and anger.

Shamefully, she stared down at her plate. Here she was lying to her little brother _again_ for selfish reasons; sometimes she felt like she didn't know herself anymore. She wondered if maybe that was why Logan was acting so strangely towards her- maybe he'd realized he didn't know her anymore either. When they'd first met, Violet hadn't exactly been sure of herself, but she had known her morals and her values. What had been black and white to her was nothing but shades of gray.

Once she would have never lied to her brother, the person she loved most in the world; now she lied to him every day and didn't even bother to make any of it sound plausible.

_I don't know what I'm becoming,_ she thought to herself, and even Logan gripping her hand tighter under the table brought no clarity or reprieve of guilt.

After dinner everyone decided watching a movie would be a good idea, moving to the entertainment room on the second floor Violet had spent many of her first days at the Fairgrave house in. Since Albany was the newest guest she got to pick a movie, settling on a Marvel superhero film.

Violet would've remembered the title and the events of the movie had Logan not gotten a call right before the film started, excusing himself to his office and leaving her on the couch by herself. She watched him leave, the urgency to his steps and whispered harshness into the receiver. He'd said it was New Zealand again by way of explanation, but she hardly thought a few property damages constituted such an ordeal.

"Don't worry, queenie," Thaddeus said then. "He'll get it all figured out before the morning."

And Violet wanted to believe him, but when she crept into Logan's room later on that night and found he wasn't there, her nervousness turned into a near full-on panic attack. Sitting on the edge of the large bed settled in the middle of the room, she pulled her knees into her chest and allowed herself to freak out for a moment or two, rapid breath and hot tears she eventually decided to wipe away while telling herself to stop being such a baby.

So Logan had business to deal with that was stressing him out and he couldn't give Violet his undivided attentions- big deal. She couldn't expect him to focus on her at every waking moment they had together. And even if this was something bigger than that, even if he didn't want her anymore, she couldn't act like such a child about it. She _couldn't_. There were bigger things in the world than the love they did or didn't share for each other, and she had to stop pretending that their romantic relationship was the only thing that mattered.

Ancient deities were trying to start the apocalypse and here she was snotting on herself like a child because her boyfriend wasn't there to cuddle.

_Pathetic,_ she told herself.

Sucking in a deep breath, she stood back up onto the cold wood of the floor, didn't look back at the bed as she marched up to her own bedroom for sleep. Marcaria had taken to bunking with Danny when he stayed at the Fairgrave house, and so Violet found herself looking forwards at a night of cold loneliness.

Still, she left her door cracked half-hoping that if Logan came back to his room and noticed her missing, he would seek her out.

All of her nightly routine had already been taken care of before she'd gone to Logan's room, and so all that was left was to strip of her robe, thin silk of her nightgown pressing to her skin. She shivered, moved under the satin covers of her bed and stared up at the canopy above her, wishing sleep to come.

Ten minutes later and she was still wide-awake, startled from her mindless reprieves by the knock on her door. She shot up and waited for Logan to come in, knowing it had to be him.

It wasn't.

There in her doorway stood Hecate, long nightgown pooling at her graceful feet. "May I come in?" she asked, and Violet could see the gold of her eyes in the dark.

"Okay," Violet said after a moment, stamped down her disappointment and tried to put on a smile. "What's up, Hecate?"

"I never gave you your surprise," the aging woman said, sitting down gracefully on the side of the bed next to Violet.

"Oh," Violet said, brows pulling together. "I forgot about that."

"You were otherwise occupied in your thoughts," Hecate said knowingly, elaborating no further.

Violet grew uncomfortable with the silence after a moment, readjusted so she was sitting more fully and said, "What was the surprise, then?"

Hecate smiled, the face of a maiden, mother and crone. With a wave of her hand and flick of smoke, a box appeared in her palm. "Here," she said, handing it to Violet. "I have finally fixed it."

Violet opened the lid of the box with a blink, finding inside the amulet Hecate had given her for her twenty-first birthday, the one that had caused her not to feel the Divinity Michael had radiated on Halloween night. The one that had nearly gotten her killed.

Defying all instinct to toss the necklace across the room, Violet smiled through her eye-teeth. "Thank you, Hecate."

"I can assure that it will cause you harm no longer, little one," Hecate said, her eyes flashing to their original green and back to gold. "I know my magic has not been at its strongest lately, but I am in control enough that I was able to make it so that the amulet would disguise only your own Divinity and no one else's."

Violet bit her lip, traced a finger around the gold of the charm, the symbols of Hecate herself etched into the rounded surface. "I'll give it a shot," she said finally, putting the necklace on if only to appease the woman sitting beside her.

"Splendid," Hecate said, bowing her head. She stood after another moment of silence, lithe limbs and ethereal grace. "I shall see you tomorrow evening, little one."

Violet nodded, touched the necklace where it rested in the hollow of her collar next to an old ring that had belonged to her grandmother, one she'd thought she had lost forever when Logan had first taken her away. The metal of the two necklace clinked as she shifted, trying to seek warmth from under the covers when she suddenly realized how cold she was.

She thought Hecate gone for a moment, but the woman's voice came from the doorway, just the lingering shape of her discernible in the darkness. "Do not fret, my queen," she said, her voice sounding older than usual. "Your king would never think to abandon you by choice."

Violet swallowed, opened her mouth to ask Hecate what she meant by the statement, but the Goddess gave a simple wave of her hand and Violet suddenly felt more tired than she had been in weeks.

"Sweet dreams, my queen," Hecate said as she closed the door, and Violet slipped into a deep sleep full of nightmares of gray eyes and rotting pomegranates.

* * *

When she woke up in the morning it was to an empty bed and the smell of fresh coffee drifting up from the kitchen, the rest of the house silent as death.


	5. Find The Map

**A/N:** Okay, I lied. I forwent sleep and responsibility to put another chapter up. So sue me.

Also, warnings of sexual content near the middle.

* * *

"Don't even think about it, pretty boy."

Pallas' head snapped back from where he'd been eyeing Helen like a piece of meat, brown of his irises shining under gaslight lamps. "I wouldn't be the only one that's had a go at her," he sneered, sharp teeth and crooked mouth.

Michael tensed, hands balling into fists at his sides. "Watch your fucking mouth or I'll knock your fuckin' teeth in," he said, knowing full well that without the help of his giant friend, Pallas was easy pickings. Him and Michael had both been Gods of War once, but Michael's past had the most revere attached to it, the most strength.

"Oh come on, _Ares_," Pallas smirked. "Be a pal and share."

And in the next second Michael would've clubbed that smirk right off of Pallas' face had it not been for the sudden hand on his shoulder, the jungle red nails biting in.

"Now, now boys," said Nemesis with a pretty little red smile. "There's no time for fighting. We have a map to make." She let go of Michael's shoulder then, slinked around to Pallas and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "But if I ever hear you talking about a woman like she's anything less than her own person again, I'll tear your cock off and feed it to the Gorgons."

She patted Pallas on the back, grinned as she moved to the middle of the underground meeting room, head held high. It'd taken just another week of ciphering Divinity for her to regain her complete strength, and Michael knew better than most just how dangerous she was now. Then again, Pallas looked pretty frightened himself from her comment, crossing his legs and swallowing like there was a chunk of lead stuck in his throat. Michael would've laughed at him had his attentions not now been trained on Nemesis, on the way she called all of the Gods around to attention.

"Old friends, may I have your ears please," she demanded, voice rising high and strong above the din. She looked like a vision of blood in a red top and tight jeans, crimson heels on her feet; everyone was apt to shut up and listen to everything she had to say. "As you all know, the day we release the Titans from their cage and put the Olympians in their place is nearly upon us-" she paused for applause, jeering and leers- "but before that day, we must first find the Key to setting our ancestors free.

"In order to find this key, we must activate a map. This map's pieces come from Tartarus itself, and rest inside the Spirit's dimensions. I have brought you all here to request you journey with me to collect these pieces so that the map may lead us to the Key we seek. But I shall not lie to you- this journey shall be dangerous and risk your very life should you choose to go on it with me. I will let you have a choice on whether or not you shall go."

There was a moment of silence after Nemesis had finished, followed by murmors in the crowd.

"Any volunteers?" Nemesis asked after a short minute of the chatter, red lips pulled back high.

A few hands shot up then, Anteros and Helen's among them. Michael hardly noticed the latter's at first, thinking to himself that Helen would never involve herself with any of this. But then he put two and two together, his own hand betraying his body and rising higher than the rest as he stood tall and somber. From across the room he could see Dino standing next to his wife, the same expression of confusion over Helen's choice. But when the old man noticed Michael had raised his hand too, Dino's eyes softened, content his wife was in no danger if his brother was tagging along.

"Excellent," Nemesis said, beckoned all of those who had volunteered closer.

Michael counted six in all- him, Helen, Anteros, Cratos, Bia and Eris, the Goddess of Discord herself.

"May I ask that everyone else now leave the room now," Nemesis said, the Gods around following orders and fileing out silently.

Michael caught Dino's eyes as the old man left, noticing Dino's small mouth of '_thank you_' for looking after Helen. Michael nodded, put a hand around Helen's waist protectively and felt the adrenaline began to kick in as she leaned into his side. At first he had thought that activating the map would be simple, a task for Nemesis alone. The other night Dino had explained to Michael and Helen that the spell didn't work like that, that while the map was attached to the tracking device they had blessed with Persephone and Hades' blood on Halloween, its pieces were not yet in place. Activating the map meant retrieving those pieces from the upper realms of Tartarus, the reason as to why Nemesis had needed so much Divinity to perform the task.

Michael had thought Helen's bright eyes at the story had been a sign of fear, but now he understood they had truly been a sign of awe. Ariadne had always been an adventurous sort of figure, and apparently Helen had inherited the traits.

"I will need blood from each of you," Nemesis said, holding up an atheme with the sigils of Hades carved into its blade.

Everyone held out their palms, blood spilling into a sacrificial bowl Nemesis let the fresh offering drip into. She cut herself last, swirled the blood together with her fingers and licked them clean. Michael felt queasy from watching it, but didn't say anything, just closed his eyes and listened as Nemesis spoke ancient words.

There was a swirl in the air around them, wind whipping into his bones.

He held tighter to Helen, burying her face into his chest as ash joined the storm, followed by brimstone and hellfire. The world was hot, the drip of magma and the screams of tortured souls. Beneath it all he heard them- the Titans rattling at the bars of their cage. A fear like he had never known struck Michael's chest; he couldn't feel his grip on Helen anymore.

And then the world was sudden darkness, until he heard the explosion of a grenade, the fire of bullets, and a his dead squad sergeant yelling orders in the background.

* * *

Violet found Logan making them breakfast in the kitchen, just the two of them in the house. The others even went as far to take the dog with them, and Violet took note in the back of her mind Thaddeus was nothing if not thorough when it came to making promises.

"Good morning," Violet said from the doorway, breath stealing hesitence.

She'd woken up this morning disoriented and cold. Logan had not come to her bed throughout the night, and she'd tried not to let that get to her as she'd showered, lathered herself in shampoo and bodywash so she smelled like fresh picked flowers instead of nightmare sweat. Afterwards, she'd brushed her teeth until her gums had bled and dried her hair so that it fell in messy curls around her shoulders. Mascara and lipstick were added, deodorant and perfume. Finally came the dress, zipped up the back and stray sparkles on her skin.

For a while she'd simply looked at herself in the mirror, frowned at her freckles and poked at rolls of fat and picked at stretch marks and scars. The act had gotten old eventually, a soft sigh as she'd gathered her courage and took the steps slowly to the kitchen, bare feet on cold hardwood.

Now she stood in the doorway, waiting.

And, to say the least, it was pretty shocking when Logan turned to look at her with a smile bright enough to make her knees weak. He wasn't as dressed up as her, but he at least wasn't in his pajamas like most mornings. Jeans and a button-down with the sleeves rolled up, bare feet. His hair was morning-messy and she could see the dark shine of his eyes from across the room. He was making them blueberry pancakes, coffee the way she liked it and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Violet didn't hesitate to clear the distance between them and wrap her arms around his waist.

"Morning, love," he chuckled, stroking her hair with a soft fondness she remembered from days thousands of years ago. "You seem as excited to be alone together as I am."

Violet leaned back on her heels then, looked him in the eye and tried to find the same ache she'd seen there yesterday. There was none, just a loving sort of warmness that made her veins thrum in content. Stepping up on her toes, she kissed him, a small little kiss that didn't last as long as she wanted it to because the pancakes were starting to burn and they had to pull away unless they wanted to choke on the smoke.

Breakfast was quiet, filled with idle talk and messy dribbles of syrup down the corners of their mouths. At one point Logan wiped a flick of blueberry juice off of Violet's lip with his thumb, sucked the digit into his own mouth with a hinting sort of _mmm_ and had Violet blushing red from the soles of her feet up to her hairline.

After they were finished she helped him with the dishes, swaying to a tune coming in over the radio on the far counter. Logan wasn't picky about his music, but he preferred softer beats and radio stations Violet had never heard before. She liked them though, felt her limbs relax and the warmth of Logan's hands on her waist as he wrapped his arms around her, lips soft against her neck.

"I don't think I've ever been as mesmerized by another woman as I have been by you," he whispered, sending a pleasant shiver up her spine as his mouth curved around the shell of her ear, smiling. "You've transfixed me quite a bit, Violet Porter."

She turned in his embrace, honesty bubbling past her lips as she admitted, "I was worried you didn't want me for a while there last night."

He blinked, a certain sort of shock and the panic from last night in his eyes- it lasted just a moment, and yet Violet saw it there just beneath the surface. But the way Logan looked at her in the next second, the sheer longing in his expression, made her question if his fear had ever had anything to do with her in the first place.

"I would never not want you," he said then, gaze so serious it could break stone. "Violet, I love you."

The breath rushed from her lungs for a moment, words she hadn't heard since that night they'd nearly died, words she was worried he may not have meant.

Logan sighed, rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes tight. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you, Violet. The thought of ever being without you again hurts to the point it's unbearable, and that's just a thought."

She felt his words sink in, lower lip quivering and the bite of tears. "Oh, Logan," she whispered. "You could never lose me."

And for a while they just held each other, standing there in the kitchen illuminated by the winter sun.

But like most things, the comfort eventually turned to need, warm kisses and surefire hands as they stumbled over one another towards the stairs, laughing as Logan tripped in the middle of the hall, taking Violet to the floor on top of him. She giggled at his dazed expression, kissing away the ache where he'd banged his head. After he'd recovered, he scooped her up in his arms, carried her bridal style to his room and laid her down on the bed with a reluctance to let go.

Violet bit her lip, looked up at him in the morning rays of light and remembered a life where this had been second nature to them, only now she loved him so much more than she once had. With sure hands she reached out to drag him forwards by his belt loops, teasing kisses at the hollow of his throat when he stooped to get his hands on her, touch every inch of skin available.

"As pretty as this is," he said, ruffling the skirt of her dress between calloused fingers, "I'd like it much better if it were _off_ of you."

She laughed, popped the first button of his shirt and said, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

And he didn't have to be told twice, shrugging his shirt off quickly once they'd gotten all the buttons undone, eager to pull down the zipper of her dress. Giggling, Violet rolled onto her back, let him pry the dress over her hips with tender kisses to the dimples of her back. She'd forgone a bra when getting dressed, just simple cotton underwear the color of seashells with flowers on them.

Logan moaned a little in the back of his throat at the sight, rolled her back over and grabbed at the elastic pressing into her hips, dragging the scrap of fabric off her in slow torture as his mouth teased one of her breasts. Violet bit her lip again, tried to pull him back to her for a kiss but he shook his head once he was finished, dragged her to the edge of the bed and kneeled down on the floor between her legs.

He looked up at her for permission and for a moment she just held her tongue in nervous embarrassment. She hadn't let him do anything like this before- it'd always been roaming hands in the dark. But she trusted him, and she loved him, and they were _finally_ alone together with no interruptions, and she nodded her head '_yes_' with a bit of a goofy smile, laughing when he grinned up at her and teasingly bit the top of her thigh, a ticklish little ache.

"You know I've wanted to do this since I met you," he said, catching her off-guard for a moment as he hitched her knees over his shoulders, her body quivering with anxiety and anticipation. "Gods, you're so beautiful it hurts sometimes, Violet."

She flushed and even deeper shade of red, sat up on her forearms and looked at him in wonder. "Sometimes I feel like none of this is real. Like I'm dreaming," she said.

"Then let me prove you aren't," he said, didn't give her a chance to ask how because his mouth was suddenly on her, any words she'd had in the back of her head turning to shocked pleasure.

"_Oh_," she squeaked, head dipping back towards the mattress as Logan found a particularly sensitive spot and brushed the flat of his tongue against it. The '_oh_' soon turned into a moan, her heels digging into his back as he sucked and licked at her eagerly, knew exactly how to make her come undone.

And she wasn't sure she even remembered how to breathe after a few minutes, just helpless little noises that got trapped in her teeth until she breathed them out as whimpers of his name. Logan made a humming sound against her at that, thoroughly enjoying how good he was making her feel. He focused on everything she liked best, press of his tongue and nip of his teeth and slope of his mouth.

When he slipped two fingers into her she didn't even clench, just let out a soft moan as her knees quivered. It took just a few more minutes and some gentle encouragement before she fell completely over the edge, turning her face into her shoulder as a high squeak slipped past her lips, Logan letting her ride it out with soft licks, continued to go until she said she couldn't, way too sensitive.

He let her come down from it, her frantic little breaths against his chest as he held her and whispered how amazing she was into her hair, how beautiful he found the sounds she made and how good she tasted.

It wasn't long before she felt a sort of need again, an ache between her thighs that only he could fill. "I want you," she said, looking up and nipping at the edge of his mouth, taste of herself on her tongue and she couldn't say she minded it, just wanted to giggle at how good she felt from all of this, how completely in love with him she was.

"You already have every part of me, Violet. Have since the very start," he whispered, laid her back on the bed and covered her with his weight.

"Not e_v_e_r_y part," she said suggestively, pulling down the zipper of his jeans with a small smirk. "Though I believe we can remedy that."

"Definitely," he breathed, helped her pull his pants and boxers down past his waist, kicked them off onto the floor the rest of the way so that both of them were bare and fragile in a sea of white sheets and winter sunlight. "It's befitting this would happen when there's snow on the ground, don't you think?" he laughed, nipped at her shoulder and left a love mark there.

She laughed back, pushed his hair from his eyes and said, "Kore no more."

"But always Spring," he said. "Always the only source of light I've ever known."

"Aww," she smiled, stuck her tongue out at him. "What a charmer."

He smirked, attacked her with kisses and warm touches as they rolled together on the bed, her head landing on the pillows and him between her legs, evidence of how much he wanted her resting against the inside of her thigh. And she wagered that she'd been stupid for ever being nervous about this, for ever thinking that he hadn't wanted to be with her.

_I love you, _she wanted to say, just to let him know. Opened her mouth to do so, smile still in place, when suddenly there was a knock on the front door, loud enough that the silence in the house was no more, and winter was finally as cold as it had always been.

* * *

Logan stilled, head snapping up to where he'd been busy pressing heated kisses into Violet's neck, overwhelming calm turning to sudden anger and fear.

He knew it wasn't Thaddeus and the others come back because they'd forgotten something; not only did they have a key and could've just let themselves in quietly, but their Divinity didn't ache like this.

It didn't pull and push like a golden bow.

"They weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow," he made the mistake of saying aloud, Violet's eyes moving up to his with so many questions he couldn't pick which to answer first. Instead he settled on saying, "Please don't hate me, Violet."

"Why would I hate you?" she asked, suspicion creeping into her tone.

He knew this little world they had created together was ruined then, shattered illusion like every other good thing in his life thanks to the God he had once been. Sighing, he pulled away from her, still achingly hard and wanting, but knowing he couldn't leave the person on the other side of the door to wait.

Athena never waited for anyone.

With a groan he ran his hands over his face, felt Violet hesitantly touch his back, still concerned for him even after he had lied to her _again_. "What's going on, Logan?" she asked, nervous quiver to her voice.

And he couldn't stand that, not after how happy she'd been just moment before, how she had looked at him with nothing but love and trust. He turned and hugged her to him, squeezed his eyes closed just to savor the sensations of her, soft as the earth, before he opened his eyes again and the harsh reality of the situation settled into him.

He pulled back from her, keeping her gaze. "Athena called me yesterday," he said. "She's ready to activate the map."

For a moment Violet didn't say anything in return, tirade of emotions fluttering over her face. Where there had once been a pleasured blush and sparkling eyes now existed a sort of quiet anger that made Logan's gut twist.

"You didn't tell me?" she asked, eerie calm that cut him like a knife.

"I was going to," Logan was quick to defend, needing her to understand. "I was going to tell you tonight- they weren't supposed to come until tomorrow, and I thought that if we could just get through today together, forget about everything for just a bit longer…"

"So you lied to me like you did when I first came here," Violet said, glancing down at her hands with a sudden fall in expression and manner. "You kept me in the dark. Where has that ever gotten us, Logan?"

"Violet, I-" he tried, but was interrupted by another knock at the front door, this one more impatient than the last. "Fuck," he sighed, losing battle as he stood from the bed and put his jeans back on, followed by his shirt. "Take your time getting ready," he turned back to tell her, found she'd covered herself with the sheets and wouldn't look at him.

He closed the bedroom door behind himself as he left, made it two steps before he turned and punched the wall.

How could he have been so _stupid_? He knew that if there was one thing Violet needed most from him, it was that he didn't lie to her anymore. It had injured their relationship from the start, and yet he had idiotically thought that it would be different this time. That if he just waited to tell her, then they could keep this safe little world they'd put themselves in for a day longer.

He thought he could love her and that would be enough, but he'd forgotten that truth went a lot farther with Violet than anything else.

And he'd gone and fucked everything up for selfish reasons like always.

"_Fuck_," he said again, marched down the stairs and didn't even bother bother buttoning his shirt, just threw the door open in a fit. "What the fuck are you doing here, Athena?"

The Goddess seemed unperturbed by his anger, standing there golden as ever with a small quirk to her mouth. "I fear I made some miscalculations, Uncle."

"And just what are these miscalculations?" Logan asked, venom in his tone.

A lithe figure pushed past Athena then, a girl Logan had not seen in years, though she was a girl no more. "The map only has the pieces it has," she said, sizing Logan up with a calculating expression, the vigil huntress in this life as much as she was in the last. "There are no copies. Whoever gets them, gets them. And Nemesis is after them right now. We have to beat her to it."

"And how do you purpose we do that, Artemis?" Logan asked, teeth grit and hand on the door, ready to slam it closed in their faces if only in spite.

Athena spoke up from behind her half-sister, tone nothing but steele and whimsy. "Why, we go to Tartarus and we _fight_."


	6. Get The Pieces

**A/N:** In lieu of surviving Black Friday while working in the retail industry, I post a chapter to celebrate.

* * *

It took Violet a bit to get her shit together.

At first she didn't want to believe it. Logan had _lied_ to her a_g_a_in_. And though it was a small lie, something he'd admitted to right after he'd done it, he'd still withheld the truth. Like in the beginning, like when everything had fallen apart. Lying had never gotten them anywhere, and she wondered when he would wisen up and tell the truth for once.

Eventually she reasoned that she had to stop wallowing about it. After all, there was a Goddess downstairs. A Goddess with a map that could potentially save the world. There were bigger things to worry about, she told herself.

That didn't make getting re-dressed any easier. Especially in post-coital predicament. Grimacing, she scooped her underwear and dress off the floor, made a pit-stop to the bathroom to clean herself up so she at least looked sleep-ridden instead of sex-ridden. There wasn't much progress though, her ears turning red as she tried to fix her hair and adjust her underwear so walking wasn't too sensitive.

_Gods have such impeccable timing; _she rolled her eyes at her own reflection.

The stairs were slow coming, sudden hesitance about the yelling going on downstairs, how it hit her like a tidal wave. It was Logan who was raising his voice of course, as well as a female voice that couldn't be any older than twenty, maybe twenty-five. Violet looked up cautiously at the bottom step, the sight of a party of five against Logan greeting her.

The leader was Athena, of course, stoic as ever. Violet was slowly beginning to realize that the Goddess reminded her of everything forbidden about female power in a society dominated by men. Athena was strong and fiercely independent; she took up as much space as she wished and would bow her head to no one. It was both beautiful and terrifying to the point anyone in their right mind would not mess with Athena unless they wanted their throats ripped out. That was probably the reason Violet looked away when Athena met her eye, brow quirked in amusement.

Beside the golden Goddess was Apollo and Metis, familiar somber faces with the posture of soldiers. But there was a new face beside them now, too. A middle-aged woman with a fair complexion and mousy hair. She was cowering, looking on in shock at the fight happening just at the lip of the entry foyer.

Violet dared a glance, finding a girl about her age yelling so loudly at Logan that her face was turning red. "It isn't that fucking simple!" the girl was shouting, fists clenched at her sides. "You're being petty not to listen to me!"

"Like I give a _fuck_?" Logan was screaming right back, the vein in his forehead twitching to indicate just how irritated he was. "You intrude upon my house earlier than slotted, and just _expect_ me to give up all of my plans to go to fucking Ta_r_ta_r_u_s_?!"

The last word brought Violet up short, a small gasp slipping past her lips and alerting everyone to her presence, Athena finally voicing Violet down into the room. "Come along, sweetling," the woman said. "I'm sure Logan's temper isn't something you're unused to."

_No, _Violet thought. _But that girl's is… _And the more Violet looked at said girl, the more it started to dawn on her.

_Artemis._

Long ago, before any of the Underworld nonsense, Persephone had considered becoming one of Artemis' maidens if only to escape the restraint of her overbearing mother. Artemis had always been the kindest of Persephone's divine siblings, and she'd taught Persephone an abundance about adventure and stringing a bow. She'd looked different in the last life as they all had, but the Divinity in her was still the same golden hue it had always been.

In this life Artemis was long and lean, clean lines of tan, freckles skin and almond-shaped eyes the same dark brown as her hair. She looked like an archer, probably always would, Violet figured. And though she was still red-faced and fist-clenched, there was a certain sort of calm about her that just radiated stealth and hunt. She was absolutely gorgeous.

"Tartarus?" Violet asked then, the only word managing to escape; her throat felt suddenly raw and scratched.

"The map doesn't work how your boyfriend thinks it does," Artemis said, and Violet was shocked to find all the malice gone from the girl's figure, except when she said the word _boyfriend _and nodded her head disdainfully towards Logan. "We're not the only ones going after the pieces of it. There aren't any duplicates, so whoever gets them first wins. Nemesis and her pals are trying to do so as we speak, so we have to go down to Tartarus and get them before her."

"I thought that the map was activated by a spell?" Violet asked, the words not computing, too much fright and not enough sense.

That was when Athena stepped in. "I fear that we mistakenly did as well," the Goddess sighed. "But then I did a bit more reading in some of Hecate's spell books, and it seems that the pieces of the map lie within the outer realms of Tartarus- or rather in the deity's subconscious. Whoever cast the blood spell in order t obtain the map's power has the ability to travel to Tartarus' subconscious realms and retreive the map's pieces.

"But as Artemis has said, there is only one set of pieces, and Nemesis is trying to collect them as we speak. This is where we all come in to go and collect them before she does. We thought we had more time and that is why we said we would be here tomorrow, but an inside source has told us that we have run out of time," Athena said, expression pinched.

"Inside source?" Violet asked. "You have an inside source?"

Athena smirked, ever wise. "Yes, sweetling. But I mustn't tell the name less you crack under torture and give it up."

"Oh," Violet said, her stomach churning. "But…if you made the map, how can anyone else go with you to get the pieces?" She wasn't trying to be difficult, she just needed to understand.

"Because we gave her our blood to do it," Logan said then, and Violet met his eye despite still being sore with him. "You and I are better connected to the Underworld than anyone. We'll be able to get through it just as fast as Nemesis' people, even though they have a leg up on us."

"And Apollo, Metis and I will come too," Artemis said, teeth clacking. "If we give some blood for sacrifice we can accompany."

"What about her?" Logan asked, nodding to the other new face in the room- the woman startled and jumped back. "Eirene not allowed on for the ride?"

"I'm a lit'le too new at this stuff," the woman said, slight accent carrying in her soft voice. "I'm gonna stay back and make sure you're all okay while you sleep. Explain it to your people so they don't come back and freak out when they find you unconscious, y'know?" She laughed a nervous, little laugh then and Violet couldn't help but find her very cute and kind for it. "And also, my name's Sally, if you don't mind…"

"Okay, Sally," Logan said, twitch in his jaw as he turned back to Athena. "But if we're gonna do this, I want to be laying down on something other than the floor. Let's at least go into the living room."

"Of course," Athena said, sauntering towards the hall without direction.

Artemis followed after, and Violet could hear her mumbling a vague, "Hope you don't mind getting blood on your couch."

* * *

Michael didn't understand any of this.

They were dead.

All of them.

His troupe mates had died off one way or another, be it battle, suicide, cancer, car wrecks, alcohol... They were dead. He was wall that was left of them.

So why, then, was he in the middle of a combat zone with them all screaming at him to move, to fight? Bullets and shrapnel and sand in his boots, in his eyes through the goggles, magazine clip sticking into his side because he needed to reload but his hands wouldn't do the job.

He didn't understand. He didn't understand and he wanted out. These faces were the faces of ghosts. This place was dark. It was cruel and hot and unforgiving.

Would he be here for eternity?

"_Michael?_"

And he heard his name then, not from the troops, not from anywhere around, but from a girl. From a girl he'd known in a life long ago, and had betrayed in this one all the same.

"Violet?" he asked, swiveled to find green eyes, the scene fading away. "Violet, where are we?"

Violet smiled sadly, freckles and crooked teeth. "Oh, Michael, we're in Hell."

* * *

The ritual wasn't as complicated as Violet figured.

One moment Athena was saying a chant, spilling blood in a sacrificial bowl. The next moment Violet felt sleepy, lent into Logan's side and dozed off into nothingness. Into black. Into cold and brimstone and a forbidden part of an old home.

She woke up in the green dress, the one with the eyelet buttons. It's how she knew she was dreaming- this wasn't the right dress and Logan's bedroom was way too orange to be his bedroom. It looked like sunset, it looked like dried blood.

Her legs were sticking between the sheets. She was cold and yet she was sweating, had to pull the blankets off and stretch her limbs that felt pained at every angle. There was blood dripping from a cut on her shoulder, little trickles to match the room's interior.

"Logan?" she asked, but the only receiving sound was a his, a secret laugh from the woods beyond the house.

And immediately Violet knew where she was, and she was afraid.

"It isn't real," she told herself, closed her eyes and grit her teeth. "None of this is real."

When she opened her eyes again the scene morphed, a stone-walled garden with skeletons in the roses. She was wearing the dress she had been before the spell was cast, cut on her shoulder leaking in the heat.

_"Didn't you miss your garden, our Queen?"_

Violet frowned, didn't let her fear betray her when she replied to the voices from all around. "Not particularly."

_"What you seek is on the other side."_

And she didn't believe them, not all the way, but the only path was forwards through the flowers and the bones.

She took a deep breath.

One step, two more. The ground was mud made from sand and blood. It stuck to the soles of her feet, sloppy between her toes. Everything smelled like death with a floral overlay. She wanted to gag, to wretch the stench out of her lungs, but she knew she had to hold her head high. Past experience told her it would be playing into the game if she lost her cool; she was in no mood to drift here for an eternity. She'd swallow the bile in her throat and do what needed to be done.

She'd been the queen of this place once, after all.

Another thirty-two steps and iron gates appeared, the emblem of Hades sealed into their metal front. _"What you seek you shall find, our Queen."_

The hinges creaked as the gates swung open. The moment Violet stepped through them the world turned to a stone hall, a fork in the road. She knew to go left; she felt it in her bones. But she also knew there should not be an obstruction in her path as she traveled her way through the darkness, a shadowed figure curled up on the floor.

Her heart thumped, adrenaline flooding.

There was no way around the thing though, and she could not go back. Biting her lip, she nudged the figure with her foot cautiously, but all it did was groan. A human groan and not a monsterish groan, not a demon's.

"Please don't be one of the men I cursed," Violet prayed, stooped down to look at the person's face.

And immediately regretted it.

There lay Michael Halefire, Ares incarnate. He was sweating and unconscious and clearly having tricks played upon him by the realm.

And she should just leave him here, she thought. Let him rot in his own personal Hell forever for what he'd done to her and Logan.

But then she remembered how sorry he'd been when she was dying, how he'd tried to make the bleeding stop.

She owed him one.

And so Violet kicked him hard in the ribs, Divinity cutting through dark dreams. "Michael."

He startled awake with a cough, looked up at her through blood-shot eyes. "Violet? Violet, where are we?"

And he sounded like such a little boy then, so lost and so afraid. "Oh, Michael," she said with a sad smiles despite herself. "We're in Hell."

He didn't seem to understand that, coughing again as she helped him sit up. "What?"

"Don't you remember why Nemesis brought you here?" Violet asked, needing no background information to know where he'd come from. Why else would he be here? Even if he was dead, he wouldn't be in a subconscious realm- he'd be in the Pits, in the tangible world of Tartarus. "We're in Tartarus, Michael. We're trying to find the map."

Recognition dawned on him then, a sudden snap in posture as he leaned away from her, guard up. "Why didn't you just leave me here, then?"

Violet sighed. "We're even now," she said. "You tried to save me, I tried to save you." She stood this time, determined to carry on.

She was ready to simply turn her back on him, leave him there to find his way out on his own, but then there was a hand on her shoulder. She whirled at that, fist out and ready for strike. Michael stared back at her nervously. "If you touch me again, I'll kill you," she said, surprising even herself at the words.

Michael looked just as taken aback. "Duly noted," he said, eyes flickering between her and the length of the hall ahead. "Look, I promise not to touch you, but we both have to go the same way. I suspect you don't wanna let me get a head start, and I'm not gonna give you one either, so let's just go together, okay?"

She sized him up for a moment at the offer, figured she'd gotten away from him once before and could do it again if need be. Make it less of a struggle by carrying along with him until the hall opened out, until she had someplace to run to and leave him behind. "Okay," she said. "But you're going first."

"Fine," he said, took a step forwards and then turned back to her with a nervous sort of lilt to his mouth. "And, for what it's worth, I, uh, I'm sorry for everything that happened the last time we saw each other. For you getting hurt, I mean."

Violet rolled her eyes so hard it actually hurt a little, vision blurring when she looked back at him. "Just fucking walk," she said, followed after his bowed steps with a scowl.

* * *

Logan knew he was dreaming before his eyes opened.

His memory knew this place better than most, the heat seeping into his bones and the false breath in his chest. "Whatever test you play with me won't work," he told the spirits around him. "Don't think I do not still rule you just because I am mortal now."

He opened his eyes to blinding light, a sterile medical room where he laid on the operating table. No one else was near, and as he stood he realized he was still in the same clothes he had cast the spell in, bare feet and all. Blinking away the haze of fluorescents, he walked to the only door in the room, pushed it open to find a stone hall and warm air.

Not a soul dared to play a trick on him, Hades' wrath legendary even after all of these years he'd been gone.

And yet the open chamber Logan found himself in at the end of the hall wasn't empty as he expected it to be- there stood a lone figure, short and blonde. For a moment Logan thought it was Violet, but then he made out the grace of the woman's limbs, the fine bones and tanned skin. He had no idea who she was, or what she was doing here.

"I'd like to say the same of you," the woman said as she turned to face him, Divinity daring him to give a name. "I should have figured that we wouldn't be the only ones going for the map."

"How clever of you," Logan said. "Now give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you and leave you here to rot?"

"Because," the woman smiled string sharp. "I'm your inside source."


	7. Through The Darkness

A sniff, a shuffle of feet, two voices echoing in a corridor. "I should have known Hades himself would come for the map."

"Yes, and unlike you, I won't get lost." A crack of the knuckles, a trip of the step.

A smile like a knife. "I've made my way out of mazes before."

Logan stilled for a moment, the woman at his side turning precariously on her heel to face him. "So you have," he relented, her famous tale carried on through the ages. "But, do tell me, why is it you betrayed your precious husband for us?"

Ariadne laughed, fluffed her golden hair. "I owed Athena a favor," she said simply, turned around to resume walking. "Besides, my husband has been blinded by ignorance. Any sane person would know that breaking out the Titans will not solve anything. It'll just ensue chaos, and though my husband does so love that, I do not."

Logan sighed and followed after her. They had been walking together for what felt like an eon now, time in Tartarus strewn. He did not trust the woman, not exactly. But she had kept her story straight about being Athena's informant, explained that she hated Kronus as much as the rest of them. Logan figured that if he were to kill Ariadne now it'd be a mistake; they needed her intell, and even if she betrayed them it would mean her own head on a stake. And she had always been a very self-preserving sort of spirit, so he thought it safe to bet she'd keep her mouth shut about her other alliances around the enemy.

But that didn't mean he had to be nice to her, especially considering who her husband was and what he'd done to hurt Violet.

"I see you've quite gotten over the madness Theseus left you with," Logan said eventually, and he could see the way he'd struck a nerve with how Ariadne stiffened at the name of a lover passed.

She brushed the pain off quickly though, took the curve of the hall with grace. "I never did thank you for cursing that bastard," she said after a moment.

"Thank Persephone," Logan said, ears perking up at a scuffling down the corridor; he felt steam rise in his chest, his palms heating as he said, "she was the one to give him what he deserved."

"Until his good friend Hercules broke him out that is," Ariadne sighed, heard the scuffling herself in the next moment and drew back to Logan's side. "Aw, it seems we are not alone, then. All this talk of curses has drawn your tortured inmates out."

"I suppose it has," Logan said, braced himself for an onslaught of gore. "You'd do best to let me handle it."

"I know I would," Ariadne said, taking another step back so that she was behind him. "I'm not ignorant as to when a situation is not mine to handle to the best of my abilities. This is your realm, Dark King. You take care of the monsters."

"Oh, I intend to," Logan said, hand alight as he squared his shoulders. "Come forth whoever you are," he called then, peering out into the darkness. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get."

* * *

"You're an idiot," Violet said, waited for Michael to haul himself off the floor.

This was about the eighth time he'd tripped over his own footing since they'd began walking together. She thought that kind of stupid, considering in his past life he'd had the most grace of all the Gods of War, perfect for precision in battle. Obviously it hadn't transferred over into this life though; the man could trip on a _pebble_, if this journey was any evidence.

"I'm sorry," Michael said, rubbing at the back of his head where he'd hit it when landing. "It's very dark in here."

Violet snorted. "It's the Underworld. It's always dark."

"I'm sure you're used to that though," Michael said as they resumed their walking. "What with having once been the Queen here and all."

Violet smiled, a small pang in her chest. "I wasn't always the Queen of Darkness, y'know," she said softly. "I was once a Goddess of Light."

"Oh, I remember," Michael chuckled. "I sure thought you were something else, back then. Offered you my spear and armor for your hand... You still refused."

"That's because you didn't love me," Violet said, looked up at him with intent. "I couldn't marry someone I didn't love."

"But you married Hades," Michael said, expression confused.

Violet sighed. "Not right away," she said, resuming her pace. "Many people don't seem to remember that rape didn't mean what it does now, back then. Then, it meant abduction. It meant he stole me away to the Underworld, but he gave me a _choice_."

"So you married him by your own will?" Michael asked. "I never heard it that way, not even when we _were_ Gods."

"You wouldn't have," Violet shrugged. "Demeter told everyone that Hades forced me, but he didn't. I stayed because I saw how lonely he was, and I was lonely too. I did love the surface and the sun, but Demeter never allowed another _soul_ to love besides her. Hades loved me, and eventually I came to love him back."

"Is that why you love Logan even after what he did to you? Because you were lonely?" Michael asked.

Violet bristled, the pain of Logan's lies still fresh from the last one. "I guess you could say that," she said eventually, because despite how hurt she was with him, she still loved him and worried now that he was gone. "But with Logan it's different. We don't just love each other because we're all each other has; we have others too, but when I'm with him it fills the holes I couldn't fill myself."

"Is it like that for him?" Michael asked, and the question brought Violet up short.

_Was_ it like that for Logan? Did he just love her because he was lonely, or did he love her because she filled the cracks? There was a certain sort of difference in the two, and Violet realized with acute shock that she desperately wished he loved her for the latter. She didn't want him to love her for how she made him feel, but what she made him feel he wanted to be. The whole idea was very confusing when compared side-by-side, but it made sense in a queer sort of way.

And yet she couldn't answer which way it worked for him, and that hurt just a little bit.

"I guess so," she settled on eventually, didn't want to spill her guts to the enemy and let Michael see her weak.

Michael bit his lip at her answer, looked like he wanted to say something but didn't; Violet was glad for that. They continued on in silence for a while after that, stopped only when Violet heard shuffling in front of them, past the darkness of the corridor.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, tilting her head to listen.

"Hear what?" Michael asked.

The rustling stopped and Violet blinked, shook her head. "Nothing. It's fine," she said after a moment, figured she was psyching herself out.

Michael didn't linger on her outburst, started walking again only to trip over his own feet for the _ninth_ time within the next minute. Violet rolled her eyes, waited for the sound of impact but there never was any. She glanced to her side only to find that Michael had not hit the ground, but a certain sort of specter.

All the breath left her lungs.

"What the f_uc_k," Michael said, backing up with eyes wide as the soul stood in front of him, expression somber. "What is _that_?"

Despite her fright, Violet couldn't help but to suddenly smile as images of the past clicked into place. "An old friend," she said, followed the specter's hand down to a flowing, brilliant torch that it held in its pale grip. "He won't harm us."

As if this was an invitation, the specter inclined his head and turned away, taking a step forwards and waiting for Violet and Michael to follow. She made the first move to do so, Michael walking behind the both of them hesitantly.

"But _who_ is this old friend exactly?" Michael asked after a few steps, eyes shining tawny in the light from the torch leading their way.

"Do you remember a certain hero who knew how to sing very well?" Violet asked, wanting to giggle at her own riddle.

"There were many of those," Michael said perplexedly, brows drawing together. "What makes this one special?"

Violet looked at the specter before them, how silent he had become in death. "This one lost the person he loved most very tragically, and was brave enough to venture down to the Underworld to get her back."

Michael thought about it, and thought about it, and then his eyes lit up. "_Orpheus_?!" he nearly shouted, and at the mention of his name the specter turned back and smiled, smoke whispering at his teeth. "But I thought he didn't get to be with his wife? I thought he lost her?"

"He did," Violet said, pang of past loss. "But only until he himself died. Afterwards I made sure they could be together. Because he'd lost her here, on the edge of Tartarus, this is where they had stay. But they can make it whatever they want when they aren't in these corridors. Last I checked they were happy. I do hope it's still so…"

Orpheus turned around once more, bowed his head to Violet in a silent way of saying everything was as it had been, that he and Eurydice were still here together, even though at the moment they were apart.

"I'm so glad," Violet said softly. "I'm sorry I've been away so long, old friend. I was worried what would happen to the two of your without Hades and I here to ensure you were left to one another… But, tell me, why is Eurydice not with you here now?"

For a moment, Orpheus did not answer and simply continued walking, but then Violet's question seemed to register with the specter and he stopped, turned around and pointed to a symbol on the torch she had to squint at to see.

"Oh," Violet said, twinge of glee sparking inside her.

"What?" Michael asked, confused as ever.

"They're leading us!" Violet said excitedly, turning to him and clapping her hands like a small child. "That there-" she pointed to the symbol on the torch- "is the symbol of Hades. Eurydice is with Logan, and Orpheus is here for me. They're leading us out of the corridors!"

Michael whistled low in his throat at that. "Wish our side had that kind of connection."

This time, it was Orpheus who was confused, and though he couldn't ask questions, Violet could tell he wanted to know what Michael meant by '_our side_' as it probably looked like he'd been her _with_ Violet, not against her.

"His side isn't mine," Violet said to clarify. "His side is...well, um, a bit...evil."

"Hey, now wait a minute. We're not _evil_, we're just-" Michael tried to protest, but Orpheus had already gotten the meaning, even when death made him slower to human sounds.

It was quite sudden the way the specter drew a dagger from under his chiton, and though it was made of nothing but spirit dust, it was effective enough to slice into Michael's throat as Orpheus pushed the man back into the wall behind him, glanced at Violet to wait for the okay to cut Michael's jugular like slicing open a cardboard box ready for unpacking.

"No, no, wait!" Violet said, shaking her hands in panic as Michael swallowed under the point of shining, ashen metal. "I don't want to k_ill_ anyone!"

Orpheus pressed the blade forwards anyways, a silent _but he's the enemy _kind of gesture.

"I know he is," Violet sighed. "But he can be kind. Stupid, but kind."

Orpheus blinked then, what had once been green eyes gone silver in the still air of Tartarus. Slowly, he moved the dagger away from Michael's neck. Violet hadn't realized that he'd traded the torch for the weapon, shocked to watch as the blade turned to fire and the torch suddenly took form once more in Orpheus' hand where the dagger had been.

"Nice trick,' Michael said, rubbing at a thin line of blood on his neck. "You're real lucky I don't know how to kill a ghost."

Orpheus sneered, turned back on his heel and began walking forwards with an angry step. Violet followed, glancing over to see that Michael was still keeping up with her despite his death-threat.

"If it's any consolation," Michael said after a long while of silence. "I wouldn't be on the side I'm on if I wasn't indebted to them."

Orpheus glanced back like he didn't believe the statement, and Violet held her breath before testing her limits with this fallen God by asking, "Then whose side would you be on, Michael?"

"Neither," Michael said, looked at her and frowned. "I'd be on a beach in Kokomo right now if I had the choice, drinking whiskey and waiting for the world to end while the rest of you Gods fought it out over who's Gaia's next top model."

Violet blinked, tilted her head and resisted the urge to laugh as she asked, "You think I'm with Logan because I want power?"

"That's why you guys are with Storms, isn't it?" Michael asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

And Violet really did laugh at that, both Orpheus and Michael looking at her like she was crazy for it. "We're..._ha_...we're with Storms because we don't want the Titans loose," she said after the giggles had subsided, her chest burning from the laughter fit. "Power's the last thing Logan and I want, Michael! We want Kronus put down; we want our loved ones to be safe. That's it, that's _all_. We don't want our Kingdoms back, and we certainly don't want to rule. We just want peace."

"Peace?" Michael asked, like he had never heard the word before in his life, and Violet realized with a sudden, sobering sadness, that he probably hadn't. Not in the way it was truly meant to be thought of. Michael had been a soldier his entire existence. To him, peace was just a decoy for battle. Peace was just an excuse to fight. But Violet was tired of the fighting, tired of losing the people she loved to senseless violence. She wanted peace in the way it was meant to be- she wanted the world to be safe.

"Yes, Michael," she said softly. "I just want peace; is that so bad?"

And for once, the God of War didn't have an argument.

* * *

"You know, it's a wonder Persephone ever put up with you," Ariadne said, still keeping her distance from the specter before them, but close enough the light of Eurydice's torch shone on the ridges of her golden hair, like twine in a never ending labyrinth.

"What makes you say that?" Logan asked with a roll of his eyes, though he really wasn't too keen on hearing the answer, let alone listening to Ariadne's voice more than he already had.

Ever since they had come to find that their attacker in the dark was not really an attacker at all, but a specter long passed, he and Ariadne had been going at it like cats and dogs. Logan had forgotten how human a dead soul could be, but the number of times Eurydice had rolled her clouded eyes over his and Ariadne's fighting was almost comical, and very much a trait of the living. He supposed that the Underworld had not affected her and her lover as much as others because of how far out Persephone had kept them, here in a realm that was as close to the living as anyone on the far side of the Styx could get.

He was secretly happy to know that Orpheus and Eurydice had not been separated in his and Violet's absence, as well as immensely thankful the specters were still indebted enough to give him and Violet a light through the darkness. For when he'd asked the specter where her husband was, she'd pointed the symbol of Persephone on her torch, and Logan had known that Violet was not alone, an old friend at her side to make sure she would go unharmed until Logan was able to find her again.

"Because you're so very _p_r_o_u_d_," Ariadne answered him then, bony arms crossed over her chest. "You preach about how you're so well-informed on this place, and yet you need the help of a ghost to get you through it!"

"I can find my way out of here just fine on my own," Logan snipped. "It helps to have a light, is all."

"S_ur_e," Ariadne drawled, flipped a lock of golden hair over her shoulder. "You do realize that you're a bad liar as well, right?"

And Logan opened his mouth to give a snappy retort, only to close it when he realized he had none. Because he _was_ a bad liar, at least when it came to lying to the people he loved most. This entire time he'd been wondering in the back of his mind if Violet still hated him for the lie he'd told her about Athena, if this was the time he'd finally taken it too far and she wouldn't forgive him. Because how many lies had he given her since they'd met, how many times had her hurt her over and over?

"Can't speak because you know I am right," Ariadne said, broke him from his reprieves and had his blood boiling anew. "Huh," she said after a moment, staring at where the vein bulged in his forehead in-tune to his irritation. "At least now I know why my husband pestered you so much when we were immortals. It's actually quite..._fun_."

"Would you care to just shut your mouth for five minutes?" Logan asked, grit his teeth and stared forwards at Eurydice's back, trying to count the threads in her chiton's stitching as a way to calm himself.

"I don't think I will," Ariadne grinned. "I'm quite enjoying myself and I-"

She stopped then, eyes wide in front of her. While he was thankful for the silence, Logan couldn't help but wonder what had made her speechless when she seemed to practically always have something to say otherwise. He glanced up from the back of Eurydice's chiton then, his own eyes mirroring Ariadne's after a moment.

"Gods," the woman next to him breathed.

Before them was a wide view of bruise blue, rotting green, bloody pomegranate red. Many never realized that Lewis Carroll had not been mad when he'd written about Wonderland, rather he'd simply taken a trip to the other side once in one of his worst nightmares.

Because the ground did not touch the sky here in Tartarus, and the sky did not touch the ground. The hills turned into separate stepping stones to the clouds, and the cypresses split down to the middle and wailed at one another like rabid dogs. There were mountains flowing over with lava, and mushrooms the size of those mountains with not caterpillars on them, but giant worms that ate the heads of men for lunch. Bleeding moss grew over everything, but it never pointed to water. It was for the best, probably, because the water here was like acid, corroding your insides with one sip.

Giant flowers swayed in a breeze that smelled overwhelmingly of corpses, and weeping willows made their cries known. Specters were not seen in this realm, none other than Eurydice and her husband, who went unknown here by the horrors only because of the grant they'd been given so long ago.

The sky itself was the color of fire, clouds made of ash. There was no sun here in this realm of decay, but rather an ever changing moon with the faces of monsters that children cannot sleep at night when they think about.

"There is but one God here, I'm afraid," Logan said then, glancing at the wonder around them with a fear he had not had inside him since he was very young. "Welcome to Tartarus, sweetheart. Watch your step, lest you lose your sanity once more."


	8. To The Ground

Violet remembered this place only from some of Persephone's most horrendous nightmares, some kind of sick Alice in Wonderland that only a murderer would fantasize about.

"It smells like death," Michael said, eyes wide on the decaying realm around them.

Violet shrugged numbly, thought of Wyatt's words from a long time ago after she'd figured out who she once was, monsters at her throat. _"Tartarus, man, what are you gonna do?" _

"This is where I must leave you, my Queen."

Both Violet and Michael looked away from the gore around them at that, over to Orpheus with shock. The specter was no longer a ghost of his former self, but a solid mass with vibrant eyes and a dazzling smile.

"Must you go?" Violet asked after a moment, a sudden pang at the idea of not seeing her old friend again any time soon.

"I am afraid that if I were to come with you any farther in this realm, the creatures would notice me, and I would not be able to return to Eurydice," Orpheus said sadly, reached forwards and took Violet's hand softly, bowing to kiss it. "I look forwards to your return one day, my Queen."

"Thank you, Orpheus. For everything," Violet said softly.

Orpheus nodded at her with a fond grin, expression suddenly going icy as he turned to Michael. "If you harm her, I can assure you I will risk exposure here to feed you to one of the demons."

"Duly noted," Michael said, holding his hands up in defense. "Though it ain't me you should be worrying about hurting her, y'know? It's my boss."

Orpheus narrowed his gaze, looked as if he were going to say something else when a voice like a bell rang through the clearing. "Orpheus, my love!"

The party of three turned to the sound, saw a beautiful woman skipping towards them, two shadows flanking her side. Violet recognized Eurydice right away, the shine of her hair in the bloody sun above. And then she made out the details of Eurydice's two companions- a strange woman and…

"Logan!"

All of her fear suddenly gone, Violet rushed to his side. He caught her easily when she fell into him, scooped her up in a large hug and kissed her fully as he twirled them, breath rushing through her lungs and her teeth stinging. "I was so worried," she whispered when the kiss was finished, setting her forehead again his.

"I was worried for you too, love," Logan said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm so glad you're safe."

They only pulled apart a few moments later to the sound of someone clearing their throat, Logan's counterpart looking up at Violet with a quirked brow. "You don't look like you used to, Persephone," the woman said.

Logan set Violet on her feet then, mouth a grim line. "Violet, I don't suppose you remember Ariadne?"

The name was like a slap to the face, Violet couldn't help but think, taking a step back from the woman and moving safer into the cradle of Logan's arms.

"Goddess of Mazes and Madness," Eurydice said, embracing her husband much the way Logan was embracing Violet. Her lips were a smile of secrets. "You best watch out for her, my Queen. She has quite the silver tongue."

"Shouldn't you be going now?" Ariadne asked then, her pretty face puckering. "Best not risk the monsters eating you now that you have gotten your rulers back together."

"At least you're right in one thing, Goddess," Eurydice said, clever tilt of her head. "I fear we shall have to leave you, Highnesses."

"Of course," Violet said softly. "Thank you again, you two. I hope you are at peace here."

"We are," Orpheus said, hugging his wife closer. "Thanks to you."

Violet smiled.

"Fair thee well, Hades and Persephone. We await your return," Eurydice said, bowing her head in respect, her husband doing the same. And with that, they turned on golden heels, faded away as they walked into the distance.

"How poetic," Michael snorted, and for the first time since their arrival, Logan and Ariadne seemed to notice that he'd been here with Violet the entire time.

"Michael," Ariadne said breathily, taking a step towards the man

"_You_," Logan growled, and lunged for his throat.

"Oh great," Violet sighed, knowing none of this would end well.

"I should fucking _kill_ you right now!" Logan punched Michael in the jaw then, and since Michael didn't have time to deflect the attack, he fell to the ground, Logan going with him and wrapping his hands around Michael's neck.

"What are you doing?!" Ariadne screamed, and the sound was so shrill Violet felt it rumble through her skull.

Except, it couldn't have been the scream that shook the rest of her, too.

She turned around in panic, eyes wide as she saw the monster headed towards them, the head of a bull, body of a lion, fangs of a viper. "Uh, guys…" she tried, but everyone was too distracted to hear her, what with Ariadne being too busy trying to pry Logan off of Michael, Logan being too busy punching Michael repeatedly, and Michael being too busy getting the shit beat out of him, and all. "_Guys_!" Violet said again, louder this time. "You're not going to get to kill each other if that th_ing_ kills us first!" She jumped and pointed to emphasize, caught Ariadne's attention first and had the other woman roughly pulling Logan's hair now, making him let go of Michael long enough to see the creature too.

"Shit," he said, and, "Shee-_it_," Michael said when he finally blinked through the blood in his eyes to see the monster as clear as everyone else.

"I suggest we run now," Ariadne said.

"That's what I've been _telling y_o_u_," Violet hissed, but before she could even finish the sentence, Logan had his arm around her waist, pulling her with him as he took off across the rotting field they were in. They left Ariadne and Michael behind, the former helping the latter to his feet so they could try and make their own escape.

"I thought you hated running!" Violet gasped, surprised by Logan's pace; her feet barely had a chance to touch the ground as he was half-carrying her and running too fast for her to make her own steps.

"I do!" Logan shouted, bare feet hardly a disturbance to him as his pace increased all the more. "But this is different! I'm fine when running to save our asses!"

She didn't question him any farther, simply kept up with him as best she could. By now Ariadne had Michael on his feet, the pair trailing after Violet and Logan with the Tartarus beast not far behind. Violet couldn't help but wonder if they were all able to die here in this realm, souls devoured with their bodies somewhere else. Or would they simply be put into a coma and not wake up? Violet hoped between the two that she would simply die; she didn't want Danny to have to take care of her body as well as their mother's.

_Oh Danny, _she thought then, guilt in her chest where there was no more air to breathe as she ran. _Here I am again about to die and leave you all alone. It's worse than lying to you…_ She tripped over her own feet at that, had Logan pulling her along so she wouldn't fall behind. With a yelp, she tried to keep in-step with him again, dress tangling between her legs as she shook her head and told herself to stop overthinking things, to just run before she got the both of them killed.

"Come _on_!" Logan shouted to her then, a deadly line of trees in the distance. "We can hide there!"

"Do you really believe that will deter the beast?!" screamed Ariadne from a few yards behind them, her and Michael having caught up quickly despite Michael's battered condition.

"It's all we have right now!" Logan yelled, his arm securing farther around Violet's waist as she stumbled once more. "Do you have any better ideas?!"

Ariadne did not reply to the question, simply held tight to Michael's hand and kept running with the group. It wasn't long before they made it to the treeline, an imposing dark blotting out the bloodied sunlight. It was only once inside the forest did they all realize they'd made a mistake, because the trees here were alive, a sentient of chaos that moved this way and that, throwing walls between paths. One false step and the group could be smashed into a bloody pulp, or impaled upon the branches of a particularly vindictive cypress.

"Dear Gods," Violet breathed; she didn't remember any of this, not a single detail besides the rot of Tartarus. All of this madness felt new to her- foreign and terrifying.

"This place has learned new tricks since we were last here," Logan said, pace having slowed to soft jog in order to better gauge the moving calamities around them. "Even I cannot maneuver this."

"So what you're saying is we're fucked?" Michael asked from Ariadne's side, the duo fully caught up to Logan and Violet.

"Not entirely," Logan said, glaring at Michael with such malice that even Violet shivered under the weight of it. "The beast seems to have given up interest now that we are in here."

And the beast _had _stopped, stamping and yowling at the edge of the forest but going no farther.

"Yes, but we are trading one life-risking thing for another, it seems," Ariadne sighed, golden curls bouncing as she continued to jog, barely out of breath.

"What did you expect?" Logan growled. "We are in Tartarus after all."

"You're so very irritable," Ariadne said, curl at the corners of her lips; Violet didn't understand what that was about, didn't like the sudden pang of jealousy in her gut over the fact that Ariadne and Logan seemed to have secrets.

She didn't have much time to think about it though, the sudden howl of something much worse than what they'd been running from at the forest's edge. Violet recognized the sound, one familiar from mere months ago.

"Oh no," she whispered.

The laelaps wasted no time in surrounding them. Violet had the overwhelming urge to scream just at the sight of the creatures, stifled the sound with a hand over her mouth when Logan pushed her behind him, Michael doing the same to Ariadne. Hands trembling, Violet tried with everything in her to bring life to the dead earth beneath her feet, earning no sort of _pull_ in return.

_It's too dead here for me to bring anything back, _she thought, feeling useless and trapped in her fear. Logan's hands were aglow with flame, but it was not powerful enough to save all of them.

They were going to lose.

"Get back, Violet," Logan said as the laelaps began to circle in towards the group of fallen Gods. "You and Ariadne run for it. Michael and I will hold them back."

"But Michael is injured, thanks to you!" Ariadne snapped.

Michael shook his head, eyes still trained on the Hellhounds as he said, "Fighting gets me going pretty well, Helen. I've got plenty of adrenaline for this; I'll be okay."

"We're not just going to leave you!" Violet said, desperation welling to the point she thought she would collapse, but instead it was the world that did the collapsing. Or rather, the trees that did.

One moment they were moving like mazes, and next the cypresses and the willows and the pines and junipers were falling to the ground at alarming speed.

"Stupid girl!" Ariadne screamed in Violet's ear as a large maple fell onto half of the laelap pack, crushing them beneath its weight. "_What have you done_?!"

"I didn't-" Violet tried, but the fall of another tree cut them off, and the distance between the men and the women was great enough for the large oak to make a nest of it, followed by a crying willow and a wailing fur. "Logan!" Violet shouted, no longer to able to see him, dust from the forest floor rising all around. "Logan!"

"We must move," Ariadne said then, pulling at Violet's arm harshly, yanking her out of the way just before the top of a Juniper could crush her. "We have to leave. You've condemned this entire area!"

The woman kept hold of Violet's arm, pulling her in the opposite direction of where they'd last seen Logan and Michael, running once more. Violet had one chance to look back and see shadows moving through the falling trees then, hear the howl pierce the air.

And the surviving laelaps seemed to feel Violet looking, honed in on her and began the hunt once more despite the threats falling at their sides.

"Shit!" Violet screamed, Ariadne glancing back at the sound. The woman's eyes widened for just a moment before she turned around, picking up her pace.

Trees still fell as the laelaps advanced, only two being crushed of what Violet counted as seven of the mutts. They gained speed on Ariadne and Violet quickly, especially when the trees stopped falling. They still shifted at will, forming massive walls of defense, but the laelaps seemed to have the timing of such a phenomenon down, dodging the forest's moves before they even began.

"I am really not set to die down here," Ariadne gasped as she and Violet tried their best to run, but it was no use when they were trying to escape from a pack of dogs that always caught their prey.

"Me neither," Violet said. "I still have a map to get."

And, as if to back up her statement, an arrow sang forwards from the direction they were running in, traveling just shy past the top of the blondes' heads, landing straight into the eye of one of the laelaps mid-leap. On impact the creature began to wail, but its counterparts did not stop in pursuit. Another arrow flew then, followed by a third and a fourth and a fifth and a sixth. Eventually the beasts could stand no more, a final arrow landing in the last of them's throat before it fell to the forest floor. The corpses were quickly taken from view by the trees, nothing but the front of a grove Aleppo pines to view.

Both Violet and Ariadne collapsed in relief with their attackers gone, sour air rushing through their lungs.

"I guess you _can_ kill things in Tartarus then," came a female voice from above them then.

"It seems to be so," answered a male voice from next to the female one.

Violet looked up and balked, Artemis and Apollo standing there in golden glory with a bow strapped around both of their backs. The twins had hardly been phased by this realm, dressed in Grecian finest and looking just as they had back when they were Gods. Violet could still see some of their modern features, like the blue of Apollo's eyes and the almond-shaped edge of his twin's, but other than that they looked flawlessly the same, ethereal even.

"How did you…?" Violet began, and Artemis smiled.

"It's fairly easy to manipulate this realm once you have the hang of it. I'd have thought you of all people would realize that," the Goddess said, reaching out a hand to help Violet from the ground. "So. Who's your friend?"

"Um…" Violet began, glancing to Ariadne who was standing up on her own despite Apollo's offered help, brushing off her jeans and front with graceful prose.

"I'm Athena's informant," Ariadne said simply without looking up. Violet nearly gave herself whiplash with the shock, staring at the woman with new found discovery. "I suppose she did not want me to tell you that, but I figure I best before you try and shoot me like you shot that beasts." The woman looked up then, smiled through perfect red lipstick, didn't look a bit like she'd been running for her life just a few minutes beforehand. "Shall we go find wise Athena and collect the map, then?"

"Um, yeah," Artemis said, blinking. "Though, how do I know you're not just making your story up?"

"I swear on the Styx," Ariadne said, raising her left hand in oath. "If I break that swear, I am stuck here, am I not?"

"Better hope for your sake you're on our side, then," Apollo shrugged. "Com'mon, sis. Can't hurt to drag her along."

"I guess not," Artemis sighed, sized Ariadne up and then smirked. "She is nice to look at. Violet, too. Unfortunate you're both taken."

Both Ariadne and Violet glanced at each other, the latter blushing while the former simply smiled in knowing. After a moment they turned and followed the twins who had began to walk deeper into the forest.

"We need to find Logan," Violet said to the archers, looking at both of them imploringly. "We got split up back there, and I don't know where he is now."

The twins paused in their movements, looked at each other in silent thought, a conversation passing between their gazes. Eventually, Artemis turned back to look at Violet with a sad smile. "The best way to find him without wasting time is to get to the map, Violet. Once we get ahold of it, the spell is broken and we'll all return to the real world, and you'll see him there. The quicker we find the map, the quicker this happens and the less time he has to get hurt."

Violet swallowed nervously at that, heart hammering in her chest. "Then let's hurry," she said at last, pulling the twins along. "I don't want anything to happen to him."

* * *

The group traveled for what felt like hours after that, miles and miles of uprooting forest, only stopping when the forest finally thinned, coming face-to-face with fiery cliffs. Mountains ranged beyond flowing with lava and turning the air to soot.

"Is that what I think it is…?" Artemis asked, long arm pointing out to golden steps, a tower higher than the mountains.

"That is where the map is, yes," Ariadne said, eyes cast to an arch over their heads, Greek warnings carved into its surface. "_Βρείτε αυτό που αναζητάτε._ 'Find what you seek.' And I believe we have not found it first."

Violet blinked, followed the woman's gaze to the five lone figures stepping through the steam rising from the lava flowing in between the cliffs' cracks.

"Hello, Violet," said a familiar and deadly voice. "Surprised to see you're still alive, dear."

"_Nemesis_," Violet said, teeth clenched and fists curled.

The fallen Goddess of Vengeance was not alone, however. Pallas and Anteros were at her sides, two unfamiliar women standing with leers behind them.

"It seems you are outmatched, dear ones," Nemesis said. "Perhaps if you give up now, we shall spare you."

"Not likely," Artemis interjected then, raising her bow already sheathed with a golden arrow. "I could kill you, bitch. Just one blow."

"But you won't," Ariadne said from Violet's side, and before Violet could realize what was happening, the woman had her arms around Violet's chest, a knife at her throat. Ariadne dug the blade into Violet's skin, drawing blood.

"You _liar_," Violet hissed. "You swore on the Styx!"

Ariadne smiled. "Oh, but I do know how to find my way out of mazes, Violet. Always have."


	9. Climb The Pillar

Thaddeus and the others came home to a sight they did _not_ expect to see.

He opened the door figuring they were all going to interrupt something, that maybe Violet and Logan were still going at it after so long of not being able to. But instead the house sounded empty, Marea barking up a storm and taking off like a rocket into the living room. Everyone followed, Danny first and foremost because he was worried about his sister and the stupid dog, that something awful had happened.

The kid had been complaining about having a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach all day, and Thaddeus hated himself for having ignored the little God's hidden intuition when they soon found Logan and Violet passed out on the couch, visible wounds on their skin.

"What the _fuck_?!" Thaddeus yelled, because there were other broken Gods in the room too, but nearly all of them were asleep, the only waking body a small, mousy woman who was holding her hands up defensively.

"Oh my _gawd_, what's wrong with 'em?!" Wyatt shouted, face paling.

"It isn't what you think," the woman said then, shaking her head. "Athena- I'm with Athena."

"Who the hell is Athena?!" Danny and Albany shouted in unison, and Thaddeus swallowed dryly because he'd forgotten just how ignorant the two were to the entire situation. He'd have liked to blame Violet for that, telling them it was the _mob_ instead of the truth; what a dumb lie.

"What did you do to my sister?!" Danny tacked on, fists clenching at his sides; Thaddeus expected him to lunge, had Albany not been holding onto the kid's shoulders with a death-grip.

"Everyone just calm down," said Hecate then, eyes flashing gold as a wave of magic hit the room, everyone stilling. "Danny, Albany, why don't you two come with me and I will..._explain_ things. I assure that Violet will be alright in the meantime."

And Thaddeus knew that Danny and Albany had no choice in going with Hecate now, not after the zap she'd just given him. So without question, the two turned and awaited following instructions from the Goddess, the only thing either of them being able to say was, "Yes ma'am," and "Okay," in a calm, measured voice, like they hadn't just been violently angry moments ago.

"Damn, that's freaky," Wyatt said, blinking away the haze of magic from his head.

"They will stay calm for now," Hecate said. "Wyatt, you come with us. I need you to gather some things for me to aid in the process of making them understand."

"Is this gonna be full of magic?" Wyatt asked, a bit anxious.

"Yes," Hecate said, and the boy flinched, but didn't say no as the Goddess ushered the group of youths towards the kitchen, throwing a warning glance at Thaddeus over her shoulder. "Watch out for them," she mouthed in reference to Logan and Violet before disappearing.

"Okay, lady, start explaining," Thaddeus said then, turning back to Athena's little handmaiden with a glare. "What's wrong with everyone?"

"They're trying to find the map," the woman squeaked, wringing her slim hands together nervously. "They had to go to...Tartarus."

"_What?!_" Thaddeus yelled, Chad mirroring the shock next to him while Myrtle sat down on the couch, patting Violet and Logan's hands softly in an almost sympathetic gesture.

"It's the only way to find the map for the Key," the woman said. "Athena and the others have gone with 'em, and that's why they appear to be asleep. Although, it seems any damage done to them in the sleepin' realm happens in the waking one as well. I think Athena has even broken her arm." The woman pointed at the Goddess in question, the bruising skin and twisted angle. "Nemesis and her group are there too, and they are fighting for the map."

"Why didn't the boss tell us?" Thaddeus asked, pulling at his hair in irritation, especially when he noticed the fresh blood dripping down Violet's neck- now that really worried him even more than the Logan's own black eye or split lip.

"We were not supposed to come until tomorrow," the woman said. "But…"

"_B_ah-_u_h-_t_?" Thaddeus prompted, impatient.

"Nemesis and the others went looking for the map early, so we had to try and stop them today. Everyone has been asleep for hours!" The woman shook her head, looked up at Thaddeus and sighed softly. "I'm Eirenne, by the way. I'm real sorry you guys didn't know about this... You're Thanatos and Charon, right?"

"Yes," Thaddeus said, beginning to pace as he tried to figure out the situation.

"Is Eirenne all you go by though?" Chad asked after a moment, trying to distill the palpable tension in the air. "I prefer Chad, and this big lug-" he pointed at Thaddeus, who frowned but did not stop pacing- "goes by Thaddeus."

"I like my human name- Sally," the woman smiled, nose twitching up.

"Okay, Sally," Thaddeus sighed, counted his footsteps to try and calm himself if only a little. "It seems like we should take care of everyone's injuries while they're out, since we apparently got nothing better to do than wait." He stopped then, waiting for her to answer.

Sally's face fell, teeth worrying at her lower lip. "I tried that," she said after a second. "But ev'ry time you try to touch one of 'em, you get zapped."

"Zapped?" Thaddeus asked.

"Zapped," Sally nodded. "Like you're getting electrocuted."

"Seriously?!" Chad asked. "But Myrtle's touching them!"

"I got connections to the Underworld," Myrtle said, smiling up at him, dentures shifting a little in the gesture. "It don't hurt me too much."

"We have connections too though," Thaddeus said after a moment, reaching out to test the theory. He poked at Logan's shoulder, a sudden electric current running through his fingertip and straight to his chest. "Sh_it_!" he said pulling back, shaking the friction out of his hand. "Not unbearable, but that _is_ a wallop. How the hell are you handling it so calmly, Myrtle?"

The old woman hummed, brushing Violet's hair out of her face. "Momma keeps me grounded," she said, gave no further answer.

Thaddeus simply blinked, turned to Chad and shook his head. "I need a drink," he said. "You go watch Hecate with Danny and Albany. Make sure they're okay." Chad nodded, hurried off towards where the others had disappeared as Thaddeus walked to the alcohol cart at the edge of the room, poured himself a glass of whiskey, thought for a moment and turned to Sally with a raised brow. "Want some?"

"No thank you," she said, shaking her head softly and looking at Athena with a forlorn sort of worry.

"Suit yourself," Thaddeus shrugged, downing the glass in one go. He poured himself another. "It's gonna be a long night."

* * *

Violet struggled against Ariadne's grip, but it felt like a pathetic attempt. The woman was much stronger than her, stored divinity come to life.

"Calm down, Violet," she whispered as the girl continued to struggle. "You are just going to hurt yourself."

"Piss off!" Violet snarled, the blade in Ariadne's hand pressing deeper into her throat; it stung, but Violet wasn't about to let the feeling best her. There was too much adrenaline pumping into her system, fight over flight the closer Nemesis came towards them.

"Not another step, bitch," Artemis said then, arrow aimed for Nemesis' heart. "Don't think I won't shoot you."

"And don't think I won't shoot her," Apollo said, his own bow raised, arrow directed at Ariadne's skull.

It was then Nemesis laughed, the Gods behind her smiling like snakes. "Do you honestly think I care if you kill her?" the Goddess said with a small wave of her hand in Ariadne's direction. "By all means, shoot her. She is expendable in all this."

For her part, Ariadne didn't looked phased; instead she simply said, "Be smart about this, Archer Twins. You are outnumbered here. Even if you kill Nemesis and I, the others will rip you apart before you can even begin to string another arrow. And Violet will be dead by then, too." For emphasis, she dragged the blade along the line of Violet's throat, drawing a sharp cut that began to run red into the hollows of Violet's collarbones.

At that Violet couldn't help but whimper, the ache too strong. Luckily the wound wasn't large, but it was deep and warm and completely not right. Shuddering, Violet tried to jerk away again, yet Ariadne kept a steady grip on her.

Nemesis laughed about it, all red lips and straight, white teeth. "Come on, dear ones. Let's not fight. I know you're threatened for your precious thrones, but I promise that in time you will come to realize that the age of a new rule is upon us!"

"F_uck_ our thrones!" Artemis yelled. "All we care about is stopping you idiots from releasing the Titans and ending the world!" As an afterthought she added, "Fuckers," to the statement and turned, let her arrow fly.

Everything happened at one after that, the arrow striking Ariadne's hand, the woman dropping Violet when blinded by pain, Nemesis and her group rushing forwards. Violet watched from the ground a moment as one of the group went down, an arrow to the leg from Apollo as his twin reloaded. Violet had just enough sense left after her dizziness from falling to get up, dodge a sudden hand grabbing for her.

It was Pallas, a face she remembered from that night in the warehouse, a smirk at his lips. He grabbed for her again, tried to get his hands around her throat where the cut was. Even in panic, Violet remembered Artemis' words: _It's fairly easy to manipulate this realm once you have the hang of it._ And Ariadne had sworn that Violet had made the trees fall, that she'd been able to manipulate this place better than the rest.

"Let me go!" Violet yelled then, concentrated her hardest on things long forgotten. "Let. Me. _Go_." The giant vines that spewed forth then were very unexpected, materializing out of nowhere, out of the lava itself. They grabbed hold of Pallas and _flung_, the fallen God screaming as he was thrown into the forest, out of sight.

The vines withered quickly after that, but Violet didn't let the power leave her completely. She used it to run, past the fight ensuing around her and towards the tower beyond. That didn't last long though, as she was tackled from behind by Ariadne, who held Violet down even with her bleeding hand, blonde hair spilling forth into Violet's eyes.

"Stop struggling," Ariadne hissed. "Just stay still. I do not want to hurt you, Violet."

Violet blinked, opened her mouth to curse at the woman for all of her lies, when suddenly Ariadne winked, a small smile on the corners of her perfect, pink mouth. "Wha…?" Violet began to say, but it was then the true horrors began.

Violet recognized Athena as the first body to come out of the woods, followed by Metis and..._Logan_. Violet nearly cried out to him, but Ariadne covered her mouth with her bleeding hand, sickening copper and warmth. Michael came next, a limping Pallas at his side. And then there were the monsters, more than Violet cared to count.

"This is where we part ways for now, Dark Queen," Ariadne said, her pretty face pulling into an expression of pain within the next second. She fell off of Violet then, an arrow sticking out through her shoulder. "This is the time when you run," she grunted, gave that same smirk she had moments before.

It was then Violet realized that when Ariadne had first grabbed her, it'd been an act, that she'd been stalling for the others to get here. Violet gaped, only waited a moment before turning to look at the tower again, where Nemesis was close to reaching its steps. While her lackies had been doing the dirty work for her, Nemesis had spent the entire time getting as close to the map as possible.

"Thank you," Violet said to Ariadne, who simply smiled as Violet turned and ran for the tower.

"Hurry, Violet!" she heard then, recognized the voice as Logan's right away. She turned slightly to see him helping an injured Athena fighting off what looked to be a Chimera monster, wondered for a split second what they'd gotten themselves into for the creature to have chased them all the way here into this broken, burning land.

The thought was quick though, sounds of struggle fleeting behind her as she ran as hard as she could, reaching the tower's steps just as Nemesis began to climb them. No one was following Violet, she realized, everyone too caught up fighting each other and once mythical beasts as she followed up after Nemesis, bare feet burning on the stone beneath them.

Breath in gasps, she caught up to Nemesis just at the tower landing, the two circling around the map's resting place as Nemesis smirked her challenging approval. The map was held high on a stone pillar, floating above hellfire. They would have to climb the pillar if there was any chance of reaching the map, jagged stone ledges their only hope of getting there.

"First to the top wins, dearest," Nemesis chuckled, setting her feet steady.

"You're on," Violet said, and the both of them surged forwards at the same time.

The ledges were slippery, but Violet managed to grab the first one and pull herself up without too much trouble. She was thankful that she'd never been afraid of heights, that she'd loved climbing trees and the rock wall at the park when she was young. _Slow and steady,_ she told herself with each step. _It won't help anything if you fall and kill yourself._

Both she and Nemesis kept even pace, the war still raging at the bottom of the tower heard through its windows. Violet let out a violent breath, tried not to think about the others and their safety, focused on the task in front of her.

But it was halfway up the pillar she heard the screeching, something from nightmares come alive.

"Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me," Nemesis said then, just as the dragon stormed the tower.

* * *

_Gods, _Violet thought within the next second the shine of the monster's eyes forever ingrained into her vision. She hadn't seen a dragon in thousands of years, and so she couldn't help but be amazed even as the creature began attacking.

It was about the size of a large elephant, pointed horns and red scales with massive, massive claws. Its scream sounded like a mix between a snake and a dying bird of prey; its wings were probably as big as Violet herself, and it never took its eyes off of her.

The first wave of fire from its mouth hit the opposite side of the pillar that she and Nemesis were climbing, sudden heat singing the ends of Violet's hair. She held her breath, climbed higher and higher as someone screamed from the ground below.

Arrows came flying then, pierced the dragon's hide and had it circling back, away from Violet and Nemesis as the two fallen Goddesses tried their hardest to reach the map first. They'd nearly made it to the top of the pillar by now, the dragon swooping down to snap its teeth at them before an arrow caught it in the eye, had it nipping at Nemesis' leg, but sustaining the woman no major damage.

"Damn," Violet murmured, and kept climbing.

Each of them made it to the top of the pillar at the same time, heaving for breath. The pillar's surface spread out wider than its base; Violet guessed that either woman was maybe four yards from the map, its holding table glowing as red as the dragon's mouth.

"On your mark," Nemesis laughed, toying with Violet as she leaned down into a running crouch. "Get set…"

Violet ran, heard Nemesis laughing maliciously and calling out, "That's cheating!" just as the dragon came spilling over the pillar's edge.

The two rushed towards the map, dodging this way and that to avoid being roasted to death. Violet could feel the smoke of it in her lungs, her name being shouted from the tower floor as the others spilled in one by one, still battling monsters, trying to come through.

And she and Nemesis reached the map at the same time, heat radiating off of it in waves. It was in pieces, Violet realized then, just as Athena had said it would be. She stared at it for a long moment, reached out towards the bubble of heat that surrounded it, and suddenly the pieces pulled together in a beam of light.

"Half the job done, thanks to your Underworld touch," Nemesis smirked. "Do you dare finish what you started?" she asked, watching the way the flesh on Violet's fingers was turning red from the heat before them.

"I lived through you, I can live through this," Violet said.

They reached for the map at the same time, overwhelming heat burning their skin. Violet grit her teeth, heard the dragon screeching in the background, circling in. With the map in her grip, she pulled, used every bit of strength she could.

* * *

The map ripped.

* * *

And one moment everything was fire and blood, the next it was darkness and the warmth of Logan's living room, the softness of the couch below her.

With a gasp, Violet lurched forwards on the couch, hair still smoking, Athena's amulet clutched in her burned hand, half broken off because half of the map was missing. She blinked, wild rush of disappointment and pain as she turned to look at Logan, who was sitting up woozily on the couch. They glanced at each other in a small moment of relief, neither one of them dead, when suddenly screaming erupted in the room.

Violet looked over to find Metis covered in blood, the twins and Sally and Thaddeus at her side as Athena stood back in horror, clutching a broken arm to her chest.

Chad came rushing into the room then, Danny and Albany and Hecate and Wyatt behind him; Violet found her brother's terrified eyes, realization in their depths. _He knows, _she realized in sudden shock, looked back to the catastrophe with dread. _Oh Gods, he __**knows**__._

Everything happened in a blur after that, Thaddeus and Chad rushing Athena and Metis to the hospital, Apollo and Wyatt tagging along for protection and alibi to to doctors that it'd been a hunting accident that had caused the women's injuries. Eirenne and Artemis stayed behind to try and make sense of the map, or rather the half of it that Violet was able to obtain. When twisted in the right sequence, the amulet projected an invisible atlas across the floor, but only half of it, lines through the ocean.

Violet shook her head as she watched, chewed at her nails nervously when Logan approached her side, frowning. "I just got off the phone with Thaddeus," he said, patched cut above his eye glaring in the hall light; Hecate had fixed them all up the best she could, but it was strikingly obvious how broken everyone was. "The doctors bought the story, but they had to induce Metis into a coma in order for her body to heal itself. The Minotaur that attacked her pierced through one of her kidneys, and the toxins in her body leaked out. The doctors were afraid she would go septic if she stayed awake and in pain, which made her blood flow faster and allowed the infection to spread. She'll be out for a few days until they can get things under control."

"Poor woman," Violet said, glancing over to Danny who sat quietly next to Albany on the couch, refusing to look at Violet as steadfastly as he could. "She could die, all for some stupid map I didn't even get."

"You got half of it," Logan said, trying to wrap his arms comfortingly around Violet's waist; she stiffened, not wanting to be touched right now. He let go. "We have something at least; as much as the others have."

Artemis popped her head up then, cut down the side of her face leaking through the bandages wrapped over it. "It at least tells us we're looking to go to the middle of Europe," she said, pointing a fingers across the lines of the glowing atlas on the floor. "It cuts off right in the middle, so the exact position is blurred. But this amulet is enchanted enough that now that we have a start, once we get close enough to the Key it'll start acting as a tracker for it."

"You're sure it's mid-Europe?" Logan asked.

"The Mediterranean, to be more specific," Sally said softly, not looking up from the map as she studied it carefully.

"I'll go make flight plans for tomorrow night, then," Logan said. "That should give Athena enough time to recover before we begin traveling."

"Who'll watch Metis?" Artemis asked snappily.

"I will arrange for that to be taken care of, too," Logan said, disappeared from the room with purpose.

Artemis scrunched her face to the side in a glower, looked back down at the map and started tracing it onto a piece of paper for practical use. Violet watched her for just a moment, glanced back up at Danny and Albany after it became unbearable not to, an itch she had to scratch. The latter finally chanced a look over, meeting Violet's eyes and swallowing nervously before looking away again.

Sighing, Violet cleared the space between them, stopping before Danny and Albany with a nervous ring of her hands. "Can we talk?" she asked, half expected for them to refuse, but eventually they stood, followed after her towards the library.

Violet shut the door behind them, turned to face the people she loved and had lied to for so long. "So," she said. "How much do you know?"


End file.
